Yellowstone River Oil Spill Threatens Drinking Water in Montana
Bottled water is being provided to residents of Glendive, Montana, after oil from True Companies’Poplar pipeline system leaked into the Yellowstone River.
Dawson County has received complaints of odor in drinking water from people who use the municipal water system, according to a posting on the Montana government site. A water sample from the system showed elevated levels of volatile organic compounds, predominantly benzene, Bill Salvin, an outside spokesman for True Companies, whose Bridger Pipeline LLC operates the Poplar system, said in an e-mail.
As much as 1,200 barrels of oil leaked from the pipeline Jan. 17 and much went into the river, according to Dave Parker, a spokesman for Montana Governor Steve Bullock. The governor’s office declared an emergency in Dawson and Richland counties along the river and as many as 50 workers from the company and federal, state and local agencies are investigating the leak.
The 12-inch crude line carries as much as 42,000 barrels a day from near the Canadian border to Baker, Montana, according to Salvin, the outside spokesman, who works for Signal Bridge Communications, Inc. The section of the pipeline that is shut after the leak needs regulator approval to be restarted and the line mainly carries oil from the Bakken formation in North Dakota and Montana, according to Salvin.
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