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 alison.sider@wsj.com
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