ExxonMobil is working with government agencies on a plan to speed up the response to oil spills along Montana’s upper Yellowstone River, after a major spill last year left local officials scrambling to deal with an ill-defined threat, state and federal officials said in early April.
The goal is to provide enough training and resources to take action on major pipeline, refinery or railway spills within 24 hours, or before outside help can arrive.
ExxonMobil Pipeline Company, which said from the beginning that it takes full responsibility for the incident and cleanup, would pay to plan and possibly equip the stepped-up response under a settlement with the state over pollution violations from its July pipeline break near Laurel, Montana.
The effort is in the early stages and the company has not yet submitted a formal proposal, although it has had more than 1,000 people involved in the response and cleanup effort including ExxonMobil’s North America Regional Response Team, the Clean Harbors and ER oil spill response organizations, as well as other contractors. The estimated cost of the cleanup is $135 million, including pipeline repairs.
State approval is needed for the work to count toward Exxon’s remaining $1.3 million obligation under the settlement.
Pipeline buried 4 feet under river bed
The company’s 12-inch Silvertip pipeline broke beneath the Yellowstone one weekend last July, releasing an estimated 63,000 gallons of oil. The 12-inch pipeline was buried about four feet under the river bed. What caused it to sever is still under investigation.
Oil was found as far as 72 miles downstream from the spill site. State officials estimate that only 1 percent of the oil released was recovered because the swift current swept much of it away.
Because not all the oil was able to be captured, officials fear some oil leftover from Silvertip could re-emerge during high waters this spring. Samples of possible oil sheen found on the river the first week of April near Laurel are being tested, and results are due before the end of April from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.
DEQ scientist Laura Alvey said Exxon will be responsible for cleaning up any more oil discovered from last year’s spill.
Exxon committed start to finish
ExxonMobil Pipeline says it is committed to completing the effort from start to finish.
“We continue to work under the direction of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality as we have now transitioned into reclamation and remediation work. This includes a comprehensive soil and water monitor and sampling program,” an Exxon spokesman told Petroleum News Bakken April 11.
The company is currently monitoring about 45 sites along the river where oil was left in place because officials determined removal would be more damaging, Alvey said.
The plan for future spills would cover seven counties in south-central and southeast Montana — Yellowstone, Carbon, Stillwater, Sweetgrass, Park, Gallatin and Big Horn. Most of the region’s oil and gas facilities, including three refineries, are concentrated in two counties — Yellowstone and Carbon counties.
No major drinking water sources hit
Steve Merritt with the Environmental Protection Agency said the hope is to have any needed training done and equipment in place by the end of the year to handle a significant spill.
An Exxon spokesperson said it was premature to comment since it has not submitted its proposal. But an Exxon emergency response advisor, John Dunn, said in early April that the company wants to make the effort “as productive as possible.”
Pipelines, railways and oil industry trucking routes cross the entire region — a mix of developed and pristine areas that includes the Yellowstone River’s world famous trout fishery and Montana’s largest city, Billings.
No major drinking water sources were contaminated.
Because the river was flooding at dangerous levels during the spill, Merritt said there was little that local emergency responders could have done to stop the oil from moving downstream even with a better response plan in place.
But he said better communications among government agencies and the company could have made downstream residents and communities more prepared.
Merritt said having sufficient equipment and training in place to handle the next spill becomes all the more important as an energy boom in eastern Montana’s Bakken shale play. More drilling is increasing the amount of crude being piped, railed and trucked in the Yellowstone watershed.
“We recognize the emerging oil transportation that’s going to happening because of the Bakken,” Merritt said. “We want to make sure all those operators that are here and all those refineries that have been there for a long time are engaged in this process.”
