A North Dakota farmer who discovered an oil spill the size of seven football fields while harvesting wheat says crude was bubbling up from the ground. Farmer Steven Jensen said in a telephone interview Thursday that he smelled the crude for days before the tires on his combines were coated in it. When he found the apparent break in an underground pipeline, he says the oil was "spewing and bubbling six inches high."
What Jensen found turned out to be one of the largest spills recorded in the state, but it was 12 days before state officials disclosed it publicly. Governor Jack Dalrymple says the state is investigating how it reports such incidents. Officials say the release of oil has stopped and the spill is contained.