December 2,
A recent New York Times two–part series on North Dakota regulators’ cozy relationship with the oil industry has people talking about how well the state protects its residents and the environment from the worst impacts of oil and gas development. Now, the state has lowered an $800,000 fine for dumping radioactive oilfield waste (i.e. filter socks) in an abandoned gas station to $20,000. People all over North Dakota are angry, including people you wouldn’t expect, like the editorial board of the Williston Herald, in the heart of the oil patch, and the readers of Bakken Oilfield Fail Of The Day, a Facebook page normally dedicated to posting photos of overturned water trucks and car crashes. Commenters were so fired up that one of them suggested the page should return to less political fare.
