North Dakota’s Department of Environmental Quality has acted against Sea Pacific International Trading Company for the cleanup of the company’s dangerous fracking proppant bags, according to a report from KXMA in Bismarck, N.D.
The bags of hydraulic fracking proppant have been sitting outside for more than three years.
The bags have started to deteriorate and as a result, the radioactive proppant material has spread across the area, which is near a local river.
The state was notified in 2019 of the abandonment and they determined that a cleanup plan could cost more than $20 million.
“What happens is, it causes your cost to exponentially increase by getting a radioactive level back. Because, North Dakota, 5 picocuries per gram, that’s the legal limit,” said Kelly Harrelson, an environmental clean-up expert.
The proppant at the location in Williston was bought from China.