Oil spill in Yellowstone River in Montana by Exxon

Statement by ExxonMobil Pipeline Company Regarding Crude Oil Release into Yellowstone River in Montana

"Early on the morning of July 2, we discovered an undetermined amount of crude oil was released into the Yellowstone River from an ExxonMobil Pipeline Company (EMPCo) pipeline. EMPCo 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.

The release originated from a 12" crude pipeline operated by EMPCo that runs from Silver Tip, MT to Billings, MT. The pipeline has been shutdown and the segment where the release occurred has been isolated. All appropriate state and federal authorities have been alerted.

AP: Oil spill prompts evacuations in Montana

Another nice gift from our corporate overlords. Of course the taxpayers are gonna pay the clean up once again right?

so essentially our planet is now 70% oil with a little bit of water thrown in? I bet when lakes begin randomly catching fire people will finally get message. That or they will just declare it a natural phenomena and go back to texting.

"EMPCo deeply regrets this release...." Shove it Exxon!! I'm sick of their garbage statements and lies...

Oil spills in our oceans have devastated wildlife on a global scale, this is in our fresh water in one of the most beautiful places in our country! I don't even want to imagine what the ramifications of this can be.

It's time for Exxon to pay us back! They need to be held accountable for their actions and they need to pay dearly!

If this isn't cleaned up to pristine condition, I think the destruction of one the most scenic beautiful places on earth by careless profit mongers might push me over.

I was literally just coming across the Yellowstone river about the time this thread was being posted. Flying into Billings we came across the river directly over the Exxon refinery there. The river is extremely swollen from a lot of recent rain and new snow melt, but I saw no oil or even any booms in place to collect any oil. I don't doubt they had a release. They happen with surprising frequency here, but as far as I could see so far it didn't look like much.

Meh....after re-reading the story, Silver Tip is near Yellowstone Park. I missed that part the first time. Or over in that direction. So the leak could literally be anywhere between basically the Park and Billings. So no telling now how big it is.

However, the river is raging today here, so if oil is in the river, it will get away pretty quickly from them if they weren't right on it. And I seriously doubt they were.

OK I live in Montana and have seen this first hand...it doesn't look like a whole lot was released...and I am pretty sure it's not going to be catastrophic...but I've already got a few extra cases of water just in case it contaminates the water supply which I will be drinking for the next week or so...

oil spill pictures

it's from a pipeline that runs underneath the yellowstone that apparently leaked...they said that as soon as they detected the leak they shut it down...but now I guess they reopened the intake line because it's not leaking anymore?

I'm really not happy that this happened...Montana has been getting hit pretty hard lately from flooding and constant tornado scares...the yellowstone river is at it's highest I've ever seen and I've lived here my whole life...it's extremely high

oil in the river just makes me sad...and no matter how much oil is in there...even just a little bit is too much...they'll just lie about how much leaked anyways...it's the typical response


edit to add: Apparently the word out is 750 to 1000 barrels of oil were leaked...


added pics

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/bb88a0a3dce7.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/20d705b9dca7.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/6b4ff68258ff.jpg[/atsimg]

it makes sense that many of these large industrial processing center, from oil to nuclear to anything else still functioning and spewing, would use these massive floods as a great opportunity to 'accidentally' release a bunch of crap they'd normally perhaps have to pay quite a bit to dispose of. The evidence is gone so quickly, all that is left is some tallies on a sheet.

reply to post by here4awhile


Yeah.....I was just looking further into this. This is bigger that it sounded at first. The Billings Gazette is saying over 100 cleanup contractors have already been called in for this. And are saying this spill has reached Miles City which is around 150 miles from Billings.

reply to post by webpirate


yep I live in billings...it will be here by tomorrow sometime is my guess...I'm really hoping they can do a good job of cleaning this sh*t up...if they don't I can guarantee the communities here will freak out...

edit to add: I guess it's already in billings according to that article

reply to post by here4awhile


Yep...I'm just a little east of you. It already appears the oil has gotten into the irrigation systems coming off the river and is starting to foul farmland. Was reading from a user in the Gazette the oil is already into his hay. I just drove out of Billings a couple of hours ago and saw many sprinkler systems running off the Interstate downstream from the initial spill....for though if you not familiar with the area. I'm hoping this doesn't foul up the crops being watered. Being in the river is bad enough......

reply to post by webpirate


hmm...ya I had a lingering thought about the irrigation for the crops when I heard about this in the afternoon and I think somebody said something about it on facebook too...hopefully it doesn't foul up crops...how many farms are located downstream I wonder...

reply to post by here4awhile


Heh...it's nothing but farms all the way east. And irrigation ditches on both sides of the interstate using the river. And a lot of them were on.

What really seems to suck is it seems Custer, Rosebud and Treasure counties weren't even notified officially at first. They were talking about reading about it in the paper. So they had little warning.

There seems to be some discrepancy in the time and distance though. The paper shows 3PM today it was in Hysham, yet the headline reads all the way to Miles City....

reply to post by webpirate


the spill happened around midnight last night according to that article you linked...so it's had 17 hours of travel time so far...seems about right to me

I want to curse with CAPITOL letters right now.

When will we learn? I just don't know what to say anymore.

*Tactical facepalm*

Originally posted by here4awhile
reply to post by webpirate

 

the spill happened around midnight last night according to that article you linked...so it's had 17 hours of travel time so far...seems about right to me

Yeah...especially with how fast it's flowing at the moment.

reply to post by webpirate


ya no kidding...the water is so freaking high right now it's unreal...you know strokers up in huntley? the water used to be a football field plus some more away from their back...now it's flooded up their entire yard and is literally wet RIGHT outside their patio door...it's crazy and I just hope it doesnt raise up more...cuz any higher is going to go over the berms for sure

thank you i just read about this and i am glad to see it posted....... this is pretty important but is hidden away flag this if you read it

I have one question, and I'm no expert of course but the story said that a pipeline ruptured that ran underneath Yellowstone River, right? Is that near Yellowstone park at all? Is it something like the ground swelling from the geologic activity in the park?

I dunno, I guess I should figure out where things are first but I just wanted to throw this out there.

Thanks for posting. S&F.

ETA: It looks like Laurel is 40-50 miles North of Yellowstone. So I dunno but there has also been some mild earthquakes in the western U.S. today. Just a thought..

reply to post by Redwookieaz


they say it had something to do with erosion from the water...yellowstone flows to the east so it's will be heading towards North Dakota

As for the earthquake thought...there was one up in northeast montana...but nowhere near where the leak originated...which happened just west of Billings

reply to post by here4awhile


Ah thanks. Just a thought on my part. Still they COULD be lying about the cause. I dunno how active that area is geologically but to an ignorant conspiracist mind like mine, it seems close enough to Yellowstone to be in an active area.

Although it seems you are more in the know than I am. Thanks for the response