Ruptured pipeline sends oil coursing down the Yellowstone River

[WhiteTara]

Source: Billings Gazette

An ExxonMobil oil pipeline that ruptured beneath the Yellowstone River has fouled more than 150 miles of the waterway between Laurel and Miles City.

Exxon officials have not said what caused the leak, but in a morning press conference Saturday, Yellowstone County officials noted that the high level of the river, the speed of the water and quickly moving debris all may be factors.

The oil slick started just east of the Laurel Bridge late Friday night and by 9 a.m. Saturday had reached Worden. By about 3 p.m. it had reached the Myers Bridge in Hysham. The pipe itself connects Exxon's Silvertip Line — which brings crude from the oilfields in northern Wyoming — to the Billings refinery.

At various points along the Yellowstone, strings and pools of black and red-brown crude collected in eddies and clung to plant life and riverbanks. White pelicans sitting on floating logs in the morning sun Saturday were ringed with brown slurry.

"It's going to be a heck of a cleanup," said Duane Winslow, Yellowstone County director of disaster and emergency services.

Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/article_6a8f2313-4279-542c-95c7-92f04639003f.html

---

The dirty story follows

[AndyTiedye]

1. yuck

[givemebackmycountry]

2. "It's going to be a heck of a cleanup,"

Cleanup?
Yeah, right.
On what fucking planet?
Cleanup is a detriment to profits so therefore, there will be no FUCKING CLEANUP!

[RKP5637]

3. Out of sight, out of mind. Even when seen they don't give a damn if they can

get out of cleanup.

[asjr]

4. All of us are going to be oiled to death.

[azul]

59. It's what we bargained for:

jobs and cars and quick economic growth.

It's the oil economy, and we are stupid to buy it.

[eggplant]

5. And everyone is worried we're going to run out of oil.

how can we? it's everywhere!

[NCarolinawoman]

6. and it never ends....

fouling the earth over and over again...:grr: :cry: :banghead:

[WhiteTara]

7. Note this comes from a local paper,

not the msm.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. MSNBC has a story on it..

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43619388/ns/us_news-environment/">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43619388/ns/us_news-environment/

[safeinOhio]

8. Don't worry, Exxon is taking steps

right at this minute to jack up the price at the pump for the holiday weekend and now have the excuse.

[kath]

10. God damn fucking oil companies.

[stevedeshazer]

11. The Yellowstone River.

Which empties into the Missouri River.

Which empties into the Mississippi River.

Which empties into the Gulf....and the Atlantic Ocean. And all the oceans.

Dammit.

:(

[benld74]

12. Drill Baby! Drill!!!

[me b zola]

13. FFS

Beyond tired of petroleum. Jesus, why is this pipeline anywhere near a national park?

Excuse me while I go scream.

[juajen]

17. Money is the answer. They can buy anything with enough money.

[Enjay in E MT]

40. Not by Yellowstone Park

The Yellowstone River begins in/near Yellowstone Park and wanders eastward to Billings area in SE Montana. Then heads north 300 miles to drain into the Missouri River near the North Dakota/Montana border. At the confluence - the Yellowstone River ends while the Missouri eventually ends at the Mississippi. Either way - the un-captured oil will wind up in the Gulf of Mexico, especially with all the flooding.

[somone]

14. Assholes

[James48]

15. First estimates say only 1,000 barrels (42,000 gallons)

but as you know, Oil Company published first estimates are notoriously low.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Exxon-oil-spill-in-Mont-river-apf-1250072893.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=

[wordpix]

61. yeah, just like BP's estimates. They STILL haven't been fined yet b/c they're arguing

over the numbers

[Snoutport]

16. UNDER a river.... the public should sue everyone involved in that decision...

[grilled onions]

18. Lousy Year For Tourists

Tourism...the enviroment... wildlife... campers,walkers,kiyakers... rather depressing and so much of this oily damage does not go away quietly.

[Demeter]

19. Well, That's Just Lovely

How many more of these are we going to suffer through?

[JJW]

20. You Betcha

Off shore deep well drilling is safe. Full warp speed ahead!

[ejbr]

21. Let the taxpers cover the cost of cleanup and give them another $10bill for pain and suffering n/t

[bettyellen]

22. "officials noted that the high level of the river, the speed of the water" blame th river!!

[yellowcanine]

23. Well crap. Yellowstone is one of the top 10 trout rivers in the U.S.

It is full of many large native rainbow trout. This just stinks.

[itsrobert]

44. Isn't Ted Turner involved?

The river probably runs through a lot of his property.

[JJW]

46. You mean, was

[theophilus]

24. First, sue Exxon for 3 trillion (with a T) dollars. If they can't pay, the corporation

must face the death penalty and be nationalized. All CEOs and others at the top must be imprisoned and all of their assets confiscated. All monies to be divided equally between social programs and paying down the debt (and some job creation). My opinion.....

[Scuba]

48. I'm with you.

[wordpix]

62. +1000 but not in this country will it ever happen. Look at Xon Valdez penalty

a mere pittance after 20 (?) yrs. of litigation. :puke:

[enough]

25. The world is their sewer. (nt)

[DebJ]

53. That would be a great commercial tag line, to offset that

(*&^ commercial that keeps popping up on the internet and tv with that middle-aged white guy, all smiles, speaking so GENTLY about how wonderful they are to be finding new sources of gas (here in Pa, we know how fracking wonderful that is).

[wordpix]

63. REALLY good for a political ad if some pol DARED to tell the truth

[goforit]

26. These Energy Companies are out to destroy this EARTH!!!

They will even take their own children right through it.
Phuck them!!

[AlinPA]

27. "We regret the release," said Pam Malek, a spokeswoman for ExxonMobil. Sure.

Next we will hear "It's not our problem - it was the river's fault and God or something like that."

[jberryhill]

30. Oh, okay... As long as they regret it, that's fine /nt

[wordpix]

64. Wait for it, "The river has never been this high! 100-year flood!"

[MichiganVote]

28. Record profits year after year, tax breaks and they treat our country like a toilet

And the Congress lets them. Might as well live in a communist country for all the good it does to live in this one.

[certainot]

29. i would like to propose a new acronym - for three words that keep popping into my head more and

more these days, and even though i hate to associate sex with it i've been on more than a few construction sites and as the record breaking droughts and record breaking winds and record breaking wildfires hit the state and the republicans keep up the record breaking irrational and radical idiocies, these words ... stupid fucking republicans -- keep popping into my brain -- SFR

[Peregrine Took]

31. Do any rich media or political types live along this river?

If so,there will be a big stink about it.

Don't Cheney and Brokaw and Ted Turner, and other "elites" live around there?

[democratinnashville]

49. Nope

I used to live in Billings a long time ago. Keep in mind Montana is a HUGE state area-wise. Although the river might flow into some influential areas, the area of the state that is affected is where the Great Plains gradually begins. You have to go further west to hit the mountains where you would have the rich and famous living. This just makes me sick to my stomach. How sad.

[Major Hogwash]

32. Exxon won't pay for it. They didn't pay to clean up the mess from the Valdez accident in Alaska.

This country has become an oil oligarchy, they own the fucking government.

[wordpix]

65. and that is why they stay with business as usual, b/c they were hit by a wrist slap

or wrist tap, is more like it :grr:

[Plucketeer]

33. Heh - DRILL BABY DRILL

Yup! This is inconsequential when weighed against someone's MEGA-Pickup. I live in Cowboy (an' Cowgirl) country. There's them shiny dual-wheeled pickups lined up at every stoplight, with no more than some lil darlin' for cargo. Gotta keep that Mucho image goin'! :crazy: :sarcasm:

[vaberella]

34. Just stop drilling. End of story. This is ridiculous. n/t

[defendandprotect]

35. Capitalism is suicidally destructive -- !! When will we wake up to this ... ?

We need to NATIONALIZE our natural resources --

they should not be in private hands -- plunder for profit.

[alp227]

36. In 1872, a Republican president (Ulysses Grant) signed the bill creating the park

In this century, Republicans turn a blind eye to big corporations destructing nature in the name of profit...gotta keep the campaign cash coming in.

I visited Yellowstone back in 2008, was a great place.

[FormerOstrich]

37. Entitlements

Exxon says the are sending a team to help with cleanup! They don't even pretend that the onerous is on them.

From the MSN Link:

In a statement Saturday, ExxonMobil said it was sending its North American Regional Response Team to the area to help with cleanup work, and that state and federal authorities had been alerted to the spill from the pipe belonging to the ExxonMobil Pipeline Company

[tavalon]

38. Under a river

That's really, really, really, really, fucking stupid. Who the hell makes these decisions?

[wordpix]

66. undoubtedly it is Exxon itself, which writes the regs for our corporate government

[SammyWinstonJack]

39. "Drill Baby Drill!

:puke:

[tex-wyo-dem]

41. Point of information (not that it makes any difference)...

This spill in NOT in Yellowstone Park, but in a large swath of the river running through the middle of Montana after the river leaves the park.

I agree...the energy companies (Exxon) will probably get out of this because they own the fucking government and, when it comes down to environment vs. profits, couldn't care less if the environment turns into a fucking oily sewer. :mad:

[grahamhgreen]

42. It's time to get off oil and nuclear. Screw this crap.

[jberryhill]

43. Properly lubricating a river is not as simple as you think

Without regular lubrication, stuff gets stuck in rivers and clogs them up.

Regular lubrication can keep the river running without problems.

[drm604]

45. The cause of the spill

"Yellowstone County officials noted that the high level of the river, the speed of the water and quickly moving debris all may be factors."

Sure, blame everything except the real cause: a frigging oil pipeline under a river!

[JJW]

47. As Justice Scalia remarked

concerning dumping toxic mining tailing in a lake in Alaska..... what better place to put them, then at the bottom of a pristine lake?

[Hubert Flottz]

50. Time to Correct it...

With Corexit. If you can't see it, it's not really there.

[bluedigger]

51. Well, that really is unfortunate!

I'm sure Exxon will try to minimize the significance of the leak, of course.:eyes:

But, to the many posters who are incredulous about a pipeline crossing under a river, don't be so naive. What magical mechanism did you think was used to transport oil and gas from one side to the other?:shrug:

It's called horizontal directional drilling and is a common practice in the pipeline industry to cross roads, and yes, rivers, or other linear obstacles. You can either go over the obstruction, or under it. You can't always go around it, and under is usually the safest option, overall.

In this case, the pipe appears to have washed out and/or ruptured somehow, which is an engineering failure. Or due to lack of maintenance and inspection. In any case, with North Dakota the new "Oil" State, there is a huge amount of pipeline development going on in the region.

I have several friends up in Wyoming right now doing environmental studies for different pipelines. The developers generally consider them a nuisance, and try to make their working conditions as difficult as possible, by enforcing dumb regs on the regulators, such as hard hats and steel toed boots while surveying open prairie... :banghead:

[prudym]

52. ExxonMobil's Latest Disaster

It would be wonderful to think that ExxonMobil really cares
about this matter.  It would be wonderful to think they might
make an effort to clean it up.  I'll bet they won't even pay
for the evacuation costs.  ExxonMobil really never cleans it
up, nor do they pay for the damages.  The reason I recall the
mess in Alaska so well is that every now and then I read a
snippet in my daily paper (yes, I'm old and I still read ours)
that some judge in some court where the case is being reviewed
has said that ExxonMobil is still insisting it shouldn't have
to pay, and is again appealing whatever.   It probably is
against company rules, but I wonder if the cost of the
attorneys has yet beem compared to the original amount
assessed as required for clean-up, and if it has surpassed it.
 Not that if matters anyway, since the corporate policy really
is that they never, never say they're sorry.   

[bluedigger]

55. All costs that can be externalized, will be.

It's just corporate logic.

Welcome to DU!:hi:

[wordpix]

67. across the Alaskan tundra, they decided to build the pipeline UP not under

The original reason was to allow wildlife herds (caribou)to cross under the pipeline and not be obstructed, but another benefit is you can see a leak when a pipeline is above ground. Underground oil tanks are banned now in many states and these underground/under river pipelines should be, too.

[bluedigger]

71. I'm pretty sure that was because of permafrost.

They couldn't bury them, and they then had to elevate them for the wildlife. Down here in the lower 48, I think it's much safer to keep them underground, given the general level of dumbfuckery of the common man. :shrug:

The big problem is that we allow them to monitor the condition of the line by either watching pressure gauges from a central control room hundreds of miles away, or doing helicopter flyovers, and then rely on first responders like the local fire department when the line blows.:grr:

They need to spend a lot more on monitoring and maintenance of their lines, but I suspect they write their own regs.:eyes:

[liberal N proud]

54. Is the an ecosystem the corporations have not tried to destroy?

:nuke:

[Overseas]

56. With the subsidies we taxpayers have been giving them year after year

they should have had all their pipelines in top condition.

They should not have been using clean up technologies from the 80's on the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster.

Instead, our subsidies were added to their billion dollar quarterly profits year after year.

While reckless spills wasted millions of gallons of oil and added thousands of gallons of poisons to our oceans just to improve the look of those disasters by dispersing the oil slicks.

And the oil giants still can get the Republicans to threaten to let the US economy default if they dare to take away the subsidies for multi-national oil companies.

[Hotler]

57. As the president would say.

"Now is not the time to point fingers."

[wordpix]

68. yeah, why point fingers at rich oil barons using our waters as their free toilet?

why point fingers as they're destroying the planet and benefiting from endless wars?

[Enthusiast]

58. Drill, baby, drill! nt

[wordpix]

60. This is what happens when you let the corPOS run amuck & give a little wrist slap for XonValdez

:grr: Just wait til it happens again in the Gulf after O gave BigOil more drilling permits before getting the verdict that blowout preventers don't work :grr:

[bvar22]

69. Oops! Looks like Exxon will need another Taxpayer Subsidy.

Our Bi-Partisan Congress had better get to work.
Exxon needs the CASH or some Billionaire might not get his bonus.


Now THIS is Bi-Partisanship.
Better get used to it, America,
because there is not a Fucking Thing you can do about it!
Hahahahahahahahaha!

[Kermitt Gribble]

70. Don't worry, the magic bacteria will take care of it just like in the Gulf... n/t

[primavera]

72. Tell that to the mutant marine life coming from the Gulf these days

[Locrian]

73. soiled

Anyone notice the choice of word ExxonMobil was using? "soiled". WTF? Oh, it's "soiled" like you crapped your pants or something? NO IT's FUCKING CONTAMINATED with TOXIC chemicals you motherfuckers!

Of course, when the world is your toilet then "soiled" may be just about right

[Sparky 1]

74. How many disasters in Republican areas b4 they see the light & vote Democratic?