Spill

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock on Monday declared a state of emergency in two counties along the Yellowstone River that were hit by a spill of up to 50,000 gallons of crude oil Saturday morning. State officials said there was no threat to public safety or health.

The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked by BP plc to review a mandate that would require the producer to continue paying Macondo-related oil spill settlement claims regardless of whether the original agreement is determined to be fair.

Federal and state officials in Utah on Friday were still trying to determine exactly how much oil leaked and what environmental damage has been done, after the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was notified early Wednesday of a conventional oil well that failed near Green River, UT, about 182 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

A five-inch crack in a crude oil pipeline in southern Ohio, owned and operated by Sunoco Logistics Partners LP, was the source of a 10,000 gallon (240 bbl) leak discovered on Monday in a stream that contaminated part of a nature preserve in Colerain Township, just north of Cincinnati, local officials said.

Colorado, which has about 51,000 active natural gas and oil wells, has toughened regulations for reporting spills at drill sites, a measure expected to inflate the annual numbers.

The New Orleans federal judge overseeing the BP plc multi-district litigation concerning the Macondo well blowout ordered the producer on Wednesday to ante up more than $130 million in fees to continue funding the court-supervised claims administrator.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) report on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on drinking water resources will likely be finalized in 2016, the agency said Wednesday.

Colorado state energy officials Thursday night said a hydrocarbon spill in the Parachute Creek area of the Western Slope was essentially under control and there was no apparent impact on the creek, Todd Hartman, a Colorado Oil Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC) spokesman told NGI.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said Wednesday he will continue to take legal action against cities and counties that insist on passing bans on the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking).