North Dakota
Oil and gas spills and incidents
The Oil and Gas Division of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources describes its part in oilfield incidents as keeping rules in place that hold operators accountable for preventing them and, when one happens, for notice, response and remediation. It sends a member of its field inspection team to an oilfield incident, which it says can include a spill on location, illegal dumping, a gathering pipeline incident or a fire on location.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name state spill lists among its standard record sources. The federal counterpart of a state spill list is the emergency response record described on the ERNS page. The general reading of a spill listing is on Spill report at or near the subject property. The North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality's reporting duty and incident databases are on the Spill Investigation Program and Environmental Incident Reports pages. This page covers the Division's side.
- Jurisdiction follows the well pad. The Division says it has sole jurisdiction over a spill that stays within the boundaries of the well pad, and that once a spill leaves the pad, it shares jurisdiction with other agencies, the Department of Environmental Quality among them. It names the Department of Emergency Services and tribal and federal authorities as also having some oversight or response, depending on where the spill is. For a spill that left a pad, check the Department of Environmental Quality's records as well.
- Report at once, file within a day. The Division requires notice of any fire, leak, spill or blowout under North Dakota Administrative Rule 43-02-03-30. A spill must be reported to Division staff by voice immediately, and an online initial notification filed within twenty-four hours. The estimated volume lost, the location and any known impacts set how fast the Division responds; a field inspector typically visits within 24 to 48 hours of the report.
- Nothing may stay on the ground. The Division says rule 43-02-03-30.1 allows no spill or leak, at any time, to run across, pool or sit on the land surface, or to soak into the soil, and that it requires discharged fluids to be properly removed and the contamination remediated. Its Guide for Remediation of Salt/Hydrocarbon Impacted Soil is a PDF this handbook did not open.
- Firefighting foam can carry PFAS. The Division asks that Class B firefighting foam, which may contain PFAS, be used only when needed to protect human life or critical infrastructure. Where a fire was fought at a well site on or near the property, ask whether foam was used.
- Incidents are announced. The Division's page lists press releases on reported incidents, each naming the county, the date, the fluid spilled, such as produced water or crude oil, and the site.
Where to look a site up
- The Division's spills page says basic spill information associated with a well is on the Division's Scout Ticket page for it.
- For incidents from January 1, 2021 on, it points to the Unified Spill Reporting page. It says incidents before that date are on the Department of Environmental Quality's website; that agency's databases for 1975 to 2020 are set out on the Environmental Incident Reports page.
- The press releases are under View All News on the Division's page.
- For a gathering line incident that is an emergency or an imminent threat to public health and safety, the Division's surface owner page gives the Oil and Gas Division at 701-328-8020, the Department of Environmental Quality's Environmental Health Section at 701-328-9921 or 1-800-472-2121, and the North Dakota Emergency Management 24-hour hotline at 1-800-472-2121.
Getting the file
The spills page says spill reports are in the well file and can be seen free of charge in Bismarck or through the Division's website subscription services. How to find a well and reach the Division is on the Oil and gas well records page. For an incident, give the well's name or the legal description of its location, and the date.
Sources
North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources pages, read October 17, 2026, no modified date shown: