MONTANA OIL SPILL RENEWS WORRY OVER SAFETY OF OLD PIPELINES. INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY OVERSIGHT OF THE PIPELINE OPERATIONS IS NEEDED AS THE FEDS AND THE PIPELINE OPERATORS HAVE HUGE CONFLICTS OF INTEREST IN APPROVING, CONSTRUCTING, MAINTAINING AND OPERATING THESE PIPELINES
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A
second large oil spill into Montana's Yellowstone River in less than four years
is reviving questions about oversight of the nation's aging pipeline network
.
We believe that independent third party oversight of the
pipeline operations is needed as the feds and the pipeline operators have huge
conflicts of interest in approving, constructing, maintaining and operating these
pipelines. Based on our audit of these
pipelines, we found numerous leaks and oil releases that are not of the
magnitude of the Montana disaster, but they occur with such high frequency that
is a reason to be alarmed.
The pipeline right of way
is one of the dirtiest areas, full of oil, gas and metal contaminants. The public at large does not know the
condition of these lands, because nobody is allowed there other than the
pipeline company.
Investigators and company
officials on Wednesday were trying to determine the cause of the 40,000-gallon
spill that contaminated downstream water supplies in the city of Glendive.
Sen. Jon
Tester said Saturday's spill from the decades-old Poplar Pipeline was
avoidable, but "we just didn't have the folks on the ground" to
prevent it.
The Montana Democrat told
The
Associated Press that more frequent inspections by regulators are needed,
and older pipelines should face stricter safety standards.
"We need to take a look at some of these pipelines that
have been in the ground for half a century and say, 'Are they still doing a
good job?' " Tester said.
The latest spill comes as Republicans and some Democrats,
including Tester, want the Obama administration to approve TransCanada's
Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf.
Keystone would cross the Yellowstone roughly 20 miles
upstream of the Poplar Pipeline spill.
In 2011, an ExxonMobil pipeline break spilled 63,000 gallons
of oil during flooding on the Yellowstone near Billings. The break was blamed
on scouring of the river bottom that exposed the company's Silvertip line to
floodwaters.
Officials involved in the Poplar Pipeline spill have said
it's too soon to say if that line also was exposed.
Poplar, owned by Wyoming-based Bridger Pipeline, was
constructed in the 1950s. The breached section beneath the Yellowstone was
replaced at least four decades ago, in the late 1960s or early 1970s, according
to the company.
Based on the number of miles of pipelines in the U.S. that
carry oil, gasoline and other hazardous liquids, just over half were installed
prior to 1970, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The agency's Office
of Pipeline Safety has roughly 150 inspectors overseeing 2.6 million miles
of gas, oil and other pipelines.
That number is slated to increase by another 100 inspectors
under a $27 million budget increase approved last year. That would still leave
inspectors stretched thin given the mileage of pipelines.
Dena
Hoff, a farmer and rancher whose land borders the site of the Poplar
accident, said she's had a good working relationship with Bridger Pipeline, and
she commended the company for taking responsibility for the spill.
But Hoff said the spill should spur second thoughts about
Keystone and whether it's a good idea to have pipelines that cross beneath
surface waters.
"It's the nature of the beast. Pipelines leak and
pipelines break. We're never going to get around that," she said. "We
have to decide if water is more valuable than oil."
Authorities continue work to clean up Glendive's public
water supply after cancer-causing benzene was detected in water coming from the
city's treatment plant. The plant draws directly from the Yellowstone.
Bridger Pipeline has committed to providing bottled water
for Glendive's roughly 6,000 residents until the water-treatment plant is
running again.
Late Wednesday night, Dawson
County Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator Mary
Jo Gehnert said in an email that the plant has been decontaminated. If
tests conducted Thursday show that the plant's water is safe to use, county
workers will give information to the public on how to flush the water in homes
and businesses, Gehnert said.
Workers late Tuesday recovered about 10,000 gallons of oil
that was still in the Poplar line after it was shut down because of the breach.
Bridger
Pipeline Co. spokesman Bill
Salvin said Wednesday only a "very small" amount of oil has been
siphoned from the river itself.
Company officials and government regulators say most of the
oil is thought to be within the first 6 miles of the spill site. That includes
the stretch of the river through Glendive.
"What we're working on is identifying places where we
can collect more oil," Salvin said. "The cleanup could extend for a
while."
Oil sheens have been reported as far away as Williston,
North Dakota, below the Yellowstone's confluence with the Missouri River,
officials said.
The farthest downstream that free-floating oil has been seen
was at an intake dam about 28 miles from the spill site, officials said.
Montana Department of Environmental Quality Director Tom
Livers said he was concerned that when the ice breaks up in the spring, oil
will spread farther downstream.