Yellowstone river suffers oil spill

[E.J.]

An Exxon Mobil pipeline that runs under the Yellowstone river in Montana ruptured on Saturday, leaking hundreds of barrels of oil and causing a 25-mile (40km) plume that has fouled the riverbank.

The breach in south-central Montana led to the temporary evacuation of hundreds of residents along a 20-mile stretch of the river, a key tourist attraction in the region that runs through the famous national park of the same name. Cleanup crews deployed booms and absorbent material as the plume moved downstream at around 7mph (10km/h).

The river has no dams on its way to its confluence with the Missouri river just across the Montana border in North Dakota and it was unclear how far the plume might travel.

"The parties responsible will restore the Yellowstone river," Brian Schweitzer, the governor of Montana, said.

An Exxon Mobil spokeswoman, Pam Malek, said the pipe leaked an estimated 750 to 1,000 barrels of oil for about half an hour before it was shut down. Other Exxon officials estimate up to 42,000 gallons (158,982 litres) of crude oil escaped.

Read more HERE

[TracyMN]

42,000 gallons in half an hour?! Even with nothing to compare it to, it is a horrendous, heartbreaking thought. Is it too much to hope they will be forced to pay what they consider "too much" of the fraction of the cost that is measurable in dollars this time?

I am once again, stunned if not surprised.

Thanks for putting the news in my path E.J., and for the link.

Tracy

[DKStories]

I'm sorry, but after BP and the Gulf oil spill, why would anyone be surprised. Even as the oil spill continued in the gulf, everyone turned on the Obama administration because they put a moratorium on new permits for deep water drilling. "Drill, baby drill." was the cry in 2008. What people forget is that when you drill, you spill.

[The Pecman]

Even as the oil spill continued in the gulf, everyone turned on the Obama administration because they put a moratorium on new permits for deep water drilling. "Drill, baby drill." was the cry in 2008. What people forget is that when you drill, you spill.

The quote is usually attributed to Sarah Palin:

http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Sarah_Palin_Energy_+_Oil.htm

PALIN: "The chant is “drill, baby, drill.” That’s what we hear across this country in our rallies because people are hungry for those domestic sources of energy to be tapped into. They know that even in my own energy-producing state we have billions of barrels of oil and hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of clean, green natural gas. Barack Obama and Sen. Biden, you’ve said no to everything in trying to find a domestic solution to the energy crisis. You even called drilling -- safe, environmentally-friendly drilling offshore as raping the outer continental shelf."

Biden seems a lot smarter in retrospect.