Terrible handling of a huge disaster
When you choose to ignore a crisis and bury your head in the sand, you need to remember what part of you is sticking up for the world to see. Obviously nobody at the North Dakota Health Department got the memo on that one, because after a break in a Tesoro Corp. pipeline created one of the largest spills in the state’s history, officials played ostrich until being called out by local farmers, environmentalists and the Associated Press.
Here are more details, from an AP article by James MacPherson:
The North Dakota Health Department was told about the spill on Sept. 29, after a farmer whose combine’s tires were coated in crude discovered oil spewing and gurgling from the ground.
Although the state initially thought just 750 barrels of oil was involved, it turned out to be one of the largest spills in North Dakota history — an estimated 20,600 barrels over 7.3 acres of land, or about the size of seven football fields.The Health Department said the fact that the spill initially was believed to be small was one reason the agency didn’t make a public announcement for 11 days — and only after The Associated Press asked about it. Some top state officials, including Gov. Jack Dalrymple, have said they weren’t even told about the pipeline break until this week.
This type of behavior is, sadly, expected from oil companies, but the state Health Department? C’mon now! Even worse, Kris Roberts, spokesman for the North Dakota Health Department, sounds an awful lot like he’s more concerned with the well-being of Tesoro than locals. Check out this quote, from the same AP article:
Roberts says his agency reacted appropriately. He says Tesoro reported the spill to state regulators within one day after a wheat farmer found it. A state regulator was on site within hours, Roberts said.
“We deal with a spill and make sure it’s cleaned up,” Roberts said. “We don’t issue press releases.”
However, Roberts did work with Tesoro in crafting a company news release on Wednesday. The company issued the media statement on Thursday, after questions from the AP. In the news release, Roberts said Tesoro “has been aggressive in containing the crude oil” and he was “very pleased with the company’s proactive response efforts.”
If we hadn’t told you in advance, would you think Roberts works for the state or the oil company?
All in all, horrible crisis management from the State, and sadly estimates of cleanup time for farmers is anywhere from a couple months to a couple years, meaning they’ll be coping with a crisis not of their own doing for a long time to come.
Erik Bernstein
Social Media Manager
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com