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North Dakota OKs the spraying of oil wastewater on roads for dust and ice
By James Macpherson, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Monday, November 17, 2008

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BISMARCK, N.D. - North Dakota’s health department will allow salty oil field wastewater to be sprayed on roads as a de-icer or for dust control even though oil companies and environmental groups have questioned the practice.

The Health Department said Monday that its studies found the briny water left from oil production was no more toxic than commercial road salt when applied to state highways.

Oil companies so far are reluctant to give away the water and government road crews are hesitant to use it, fearing liability issues, said Dave Glatt, director of the state Health Department’s environmental health section.

"Applicators and oil companies are being cautious at this point, which is good," Glatt said.

State transportation director Francis Ziegler said there are no immediate plans to resume spraying salty wastewater on North Dakota highways.

But, he said: "Never say never - if the cost of road salt keeps going up, we may look at it again."

The Transportation Department had been using the oil well wastewater, 10 times saltier than sea water, to melt ice and snow on North Dakota roads - mostly in the western part of the state - since 1963.

It stopped last year after The Associated Press reported on the practice. Some health officials had never heard of the practice until then.

The state Health Department has since conducted studies and found the salty oil well wastewater did not harm water or vegetation along roadsides, Glatt said.

Health officials tested about 10 oil wells, Glatt said.

Some wells contained pollutants that would prohibit water from those wells to be dumped on the roads, but the water in others was as safe as commercial road salt, he said.

Under the Health Department rules, state, county or city governments could use oil wastewater on roads if it is comparable to commercial road salt, Glatt said.

It would be up to the entities to test the wastewater through a private lab, and the health department would monitor the results, he said.

North Dakota Transportation Department spokeswoman Billie Jo Lorius said the price of road salt has jumped from about $40 a ton in 2004 to about $67 a ton this winter.

The state spent about $1.6 million for 29,000 tons of road salt last year, Lorius said.

This winter, the state has been using a mixture of sugar beet pulp with commercial salt brine, officials said.

The oil wastewater had been given to the state at no cost.

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