Heart racing you scurry into your house, slamming the door. Back against the door, you quickly slide the dead bolt into place. Thump-thump. You try to catch your breath as your heart punches your chest, squeezing your lungs. You are afraid, and you are in danger.
Wanting to get away from the door, you trip down the hall, looking behind you as you hear an ominous, thwack, thwack, thwacking against your front door. He has an axe, you think. You hear a high-pitched keening before you realize it is only the sound of your own scream. Tearing your eyes away from the door, you whirl around and slam hard into a solid, tall, and warm object. You are paralyzed with dread, the only mobile part of your body your eyes as they slowly make their way up the menacing frame of . . . your next-door neighbor.
Before you have a chance to run or scream or hurl yourself at him, he raises a wickedly jagged axe and plunges it into your motionless form . . .
In this analogy, Minnesota is the terrified home owner being threatened and killed by its axe-wielding neighbor, North Dakota. Only, North Dakota is not murdering Minnesota with a woodcutting implement, but instead with its booming oil production and all of the ramifications that go with it. Also, North Dakota may not be premeditating Minnesota’s murder. In fact, North Dakota is really murdering the environment without any malicious intentions; this murder is only occurring because of gross irresponsibility.
Okay, so maybe this analogy doesn’t entirely fit, but we will work with what we have.
The point is that the rising oil production in North Dakota is not only affecting the thousands of people who live there, but it is also doing a greater harm to the ecosystem, and by extension, the world, which includes Minnesota.
Just this month in the small town of Noonan, North Dakota, 200 industrial sized black garbage bags were found in a small abandoned gas station just a few blocks from the city’s downtown. In these bags were hundreds of oil socks, used by drilling companies to filter out and contain the radioactive element radium, which is naturally occurring in unprocessed oil, but lethal in concentrated forms.
This incident is the largest illegal dumping ground of radioactive waste in North Dakota. The second largest incident happened earlier this year, when several trailer trucks stuffed full of radioactive socks were discovered just outside of Watford City. But these are only a few problems that have cropped up since North Dakota has become the second largest producer of oil in the United States. Although this has done wonders for the economy, especially in North Dakota, its unforeseen consequences have had a lasting and horrible impact, and it is only getting worse.
It is dangerous to drill for oil. We all know that. We’ve all seen the horror stories on the news. But when this sort of danger strolls into one’s backyard, the danger becomes infinitely more real.
Casselton, North Dakota, which is less than an hour away from the Minnesota border, recently had a dangerous explosion that was caused by an oil train derailing. It was especially devastating because North Dakota did not have a plan in store for quick action in that situation. After the train explosion in Canada this past summer, they realized this fault and that something similar could easily happen in North Dakota.
Their current plan, which was implemented during the Casselton accident, was based off of surrounding fire departments, and other such organizations from around the area to come to the aid of any local accident that might happen. Luckily, this plan worked for the Casselton train explosion, but many are calling for more airtight safety precautions. To make matters worse, the type of oil exported from North Dakota is said by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to be more flammable than other types of oil.
All of us in Minnesota are letting out a sigh of relief, right? Well, not exactly. Let’s go back to the axe murderer analogy. The thing is, all that oil in North Dakota has to go somewhere. Minnesota happens to be directly in the way of North Dakota shipping its oil to those eastern companies that buy it. So Minnesota is laced with railroads that transport oil-carrying trains. One of the biggest railways that support these types of trains happens to go directly through St. Paul. I don’t think I’m the only one who might get a little nervous thinking about this.
Perhaps the scariest part of this whole thing, the part that really makes it comparable to a horror movie, is that the threat is right next door, and it is something we would never expect to hurt us. We’ve all been warned of the dangers of radioactive material and nuclear waste, and there have been many examples of failed containment facilities, cracks in the walls of nuclear plants, and the ruinous aftereffects. But no one expects the same kind of danger to be lurking in a dumpster, or a truck bed, or a derelict building. No one ever suspects such consequences when they fill up their tank at the gas station.
By having several reoccurring incidents of illegal dumping of radioactive waste, in areas where they can make whole towns sick, by having slack safety precautions, and slow action to clean up these dangerous messes, and by sending ticking oil bombs down our nearby railroads, North Dakota is swinging a lethal axe right into the heart of Minnesota. Before long, the axe-wielding, radioactive North Dakota will move on to the rest of the country, cutting down anything that gets in its way.
Ouch. That hurts.