Big Story Follow UP

Gov. gets up close look at oil spill impact

Posted: Jul 5, 2011 7:04 PM by Amanda Venegas
Updated: Jul 5, 2011 7:06 PM

LAUREL - Tuesday marked day four of ExxonMobil's efforts to clean up the Yellowstone River and surrounding properties most affected by the oil spill.

"This is the kind of situation that as an environmental official you hate to see. It's a significant release into a major river," said Tom Livers from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.

It was also the first time, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer got a look at the impacts of the leak and the increased crews cleaning up the oil.

"We will make sure as the state of Montana that none of these people leave this job until the Yellowstone River and the wildlife are made whole," said Governor Brian Schweitzer.

The Yellowstone River is at flood stage meaning there's a whole lot of water and its moving quite rapidly and that's making difficult for crews to clean up.

"I'd like to call it a double-edged sword, but the negative side is probably sharper than the positive side. If we had this down the river, it'd be a whole different cleanup. It'd still be major, it'd still be serious, but it'd be more contained," Livers said.

Still many questions continue to surround what caused this pipeline to leak 42,000 gallons of oil.

"That would put the pipe about 18to 20 ft. below the surface of the water. But again something occurred along the bottom of the river that we're not yet aware of and we need to understand that," said Gary Pruessing, ExxonMobil Pipeline President.

Although the unified command post made up of ExxonMobil, EPA and the DEQ, have only confirmed that the oil has been seen as far away as Huntley...there have been reports that it's gone much farther.
And Governor Schweitzer says the math just doesn't add up.

"The river is flowing a seven miles per hour and some of that water that is containing water is already in North Dakota and some of those low lying eddies all the way to Miles City and beyond have some level of oil in it. Those lowlands are a treasure trove of biology for the fisheries of the Yellowstone River," Gov. Schweitzer said.

While cleanup crews soak up the oil alongside the riverbank, officials are monitoring its impact from up high.

"There's a lot of stuff that's inaccessible until the waters start to recede. Some of the stuff in the braided channels out in the rivers and we're a long way from being able to get there," Livers said.

Making this the beginning of what could be a a very long cleanup.

Governor Schweitzer is urging all landowners east of Billings to get out on their properties and inspect the waterways for any sign of oil. It's important, he says, for Montanans to get out and their claims in now before it's too late. He's urging people to call contact their local disaster and emergency services or ExxonMobil at 1-888-382-0043.