Oil Well Capped, Clean Up Underway | Video

Rene Thibault | 12/14/2012

As of 5:00 this morning the oil leak near Lake Sakakawea has been capped off and contained. Yesterday, the Slawson Exploration rig was spewing oil into the air after a mechanical failure. Today the well slowly lost pressure which allowed workers to get their equipment in place to take control.

Right now crews are continuing their clean up process around the oil rig and are skimming the grounds for contaminated snow and grass. They are hauling all of the waste to a disposal site.

The State Health Department is on scene coming up with an environmental clean up plan.

"We`ve been evaluating the extent of the mist plume, how far it`s gone. We`re starting to look at options for clean up, sampling and so forth. What we`re going to need to do to collect samples, what kind of samples they`re going to be. And we`re working with the Oil Company to start devising a plan for the clean up," said ND state environmental scientist Kris Robertson.

Slawlon expects the well to be back up and running by next week.

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