Workers Cleaning Up After Yellowstone River Oil Spill -- Update

By Alison Sider 

A pipeline company said more than 50 people were working to clean up the Yellowstone River in Montana Monday afternoon in the wake of an oil spill that dumped as much as 1,200 barrels of crude near the river Saturday morning.

True Cos., the privately held Wyoming-based company that owns the pipeline system, said in a statement said the leak began Saturday morning and the pipeline was shut in an hour later. The release occurred about 9 miles south of the city of Glendive, which is roughly 40 miles west of the North Dakota border.

Some oil reached the river, which is partially frozen in places. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality said a flyover inspection by the company spotted sheens miles away from where the initial spill occurred, including at a drinking-water intake 25 miles north of Glendive.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has declared a state of emergency in two counties along the river.

The release was from Bridger Pipeline LLC's 12-inch Poplar line, which can carry 42,000 barrels a day of crude from the Bakken formation and runs from Canada south to Baker, Montana. Bridger Pipeline is a subsidiary of True Cos.

Late last year, Bridger Pipeline received a warning letter from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration, alleging that the company didn't follow proper reporting procedures when it inspected the Poplar pipeline in 2012. The agency didn't impose a fine. The company hasn't filed a response with PHMSA and didn't immediately respond to questions about the warning.

In 2011, Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Silvertip pipeline spilled an estimated 1,500 barrels of oil into the Yellowstone River near Laurel, Mont., about 230 miles west of Glendive. Federal regulators levied a $1.7 million penalty against Exxon for the incident.

Write to Alison Sider at [e-mail]

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