An estimated 1,000 barrels of crude oil was released into the pristine Yellowstone River, west of Billings, Montana, on Friday after an oil pipeline ruptured under the riverbed. When will these big oil companies learn? It seems to me that if you are going to run a pipeline under a river, (especially one as special as the Yellowstone), someone would do everything possible to make sure that something like this could never happen. Early speculation is that the record runoff levels may have scoured the riverbed, exposing the pipeline which was then hit by debris.
Wouldn't you think that someone from Exxon-Mobil could plan for high water scenarios? Regardless of the fact that the spill took place well below the Yellowstone's famous trout fishing corridor, the significance of this disaster is still exceptional. It remains to be seen what the affect on wildlife living downstream will be. The Department of Transportation (who oversees the pipeline), issued a letter to Exxon-Mobil last year citing 7 seven serious safety violations along this particular line. I sure hope this company is held accountable for this. Check out the Billings Gazette to keep up with this story from a local source.
4 comments:
This is the reason why pipelines need to be checked regularly. Oil can damage the river. it's even detrimental to people who are living beside the river. There cases of people who develop cancer because of the oil spill. I hope that this incident won't happen again.
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Oil leakage is very dangerous to the people and the environment. Miners and the government must be responsible for this and make sure that the pipelines are safe. I agree with Billy that these pipelines must be checked regularly. green light laser
This is very unfortunate. They really have to ensure the safety of these pipelines. Although they could use oil storage tanks to keep their oils supply safe.
This could have not happened if legal and proper checking of the oil storage are made. This is very dangerous to the humans and even other living things that might get affected. I hope they are doing things legal, including the filing of form 2290 when transporting the oil tanks.
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