The Well from Hell

As the events of the First World War played out in Europe, prospectors were attempting to strike it rich in Alberta. Although the province would eventually become an oil powerhouse, early development efforts were not always successful. In 1916, for example, Peace River Oils drilled a well that became known as Old Salty, because instead of finding petrochemicals, the company perforated a high-pressure saline aquifer. A crater quickly formed — ­swallowing up the drilling rig and discharging vast quantities of water.

A saline spill is a different beast than a leak of hydrocarbons. While both are bad, hydrocarbons can at least be biodegraded or burned. Salts cannot. In Hidden Scourge, the ecologist Kevin P. Timoney likens such spills to spraying seawater on your garden. They lack the sickening stench of an oil spill, but they can be equally devastating — even when the salinity...