The great Yellowstone River has been inundated with as much as 1000 barrels of Exxon Mobile crude oil. The timing is really bad too since runoff is in full swing. That means instead of keeping the oil at least a little under control it will be washed well down the river and into the Missouri. On the other hand, for the Yellowstone River itself it could be a good thing as the oil will largely get blown downstream. The interesting part is that the pipeline that broke was under the river. Wonder who had that great idea? Every seriously heavy runoff event was bound to stress the pipeline until eventually it couldn't take it any more. Apparently there were a total of three pipelines (from three different companies) under the river, so let's hope the other two stay secure.
Major news outlets are now picking up on the story. Hopefully Exxon Mobile will do what they say they are going to, namely do a good job with the cleanup. If past history is any indication, I'm a little skeptical about a Big Oil company doing the right thing...
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