Plan in place for oil spills on Lake Pend Oreille, Clark Fork River

SANDPOINT – A response plan is in place in the event of an oil spill on Lake Pend Oreille and the Clark Fork River.

The Bonner County Daily Bee reported that the Lake Pend Oreille Geographic Response Plan identifies at-risk resources such as water intakes and wetlands and provides a suite of countermeasures to protect them.

The plan was developed through a mosaic of state grant funding and contributions from railway companies such as Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

The 400-plus page plan focuses exclusively on petroleum spills because of the increase in volume of oil tankers hauling crude oil pulled from the Bakken formation in the Great Plains’ Williston Basin. State officials say up to 3 million gallons of the crude course along Bonner County waterways per week.