Montana: Ruptured Pipeline Spills ‘Unknown’ Amount of Oil Into Yellowstone River
July 3rd, 2011Via: New York Times:
An ExxonMobil pipeline running under the Yellowstone River in south central Montana ruptured late Friday, spilling crude oil into the river and forcing evacuations.
The pipeline burst about 10 miles east of Billings, coating parts of the Yellowstone River that run past Laurel — a town of about 6,500 people downstream from the rupture — with shiny patches of oil. Precisely how much oil leaked into the river was still unclear. But throughout the day Saturday, cleanup crews in Laurel worked to lessen the impact of the spill, laying down absorbent sheets along the banks of the river to mop up some of the escaped oil, and measuring fumes to determine the health threat.
Fearing a possible explosion, officials in Laurel evacuated about 140 people just after midnight Saturday, then allowed them to return at 4 a.m. after tests showed fumes from the leaked oil had died down, the Associated Press reported. While the cause of the rupture was not immediately known, Brent Peters, the fire chief for Laurel, told the AP that it may have been caused by high waters eroding parts of the river bed and exposing the pipeline to debris.
The pipeline is 12 inches wide and runs from Silver Tip, Mont., to Billings, an area where three different refineries are located, ExxonMobil said. All three were shut down after the spill. ExxonMobil said it had summoned its North American Regional Response Team to help clean up the spill, and a fire spokesman in Laurel said over 100 people were expected to arrive at the scene by Sunday morning, including officials with the Environmental Protection Agency.
In a statement, the company said it “deeply regrets this release and is working hard with local emergency authorities to mitigate the impacts of this release on the surrounding communities and to the environment.
