Yellowstone River Oil Spill Cleanup and Recovery Update

BILLINGS, Mont.-ExxonMobil Pipeline Company provided the following update as Unified Command cleanup operations continued last week  following a release of oil into the Yellowstone River on July 1st.

CLEANUP STATUS

Under the direction of the Unified Command, almost 700 people are now involved in the response and cleanup effort including ExxonMobil’s North America Regional Response Team, the Clean Harbors and ER oil spill response organizations and additional contractors.

We have deployed more than 43,000 feet of boom and approximately 260,000 absorbent pads to clean up oil adjacent to the river. Deployment continues to focus on the highest priority areas to reduce environmental impact. Forty-six boats are available for deployment on the river when conditions permit, and air boats are being used to help ferry workers to and from the shore to various cleanup sites where conventional motorboats cannot be used.

The EPA is leading the Unified Command Center cleanup activities and conducting ongoing air and water quality monitoring. Ongoing air quality monitoring has confirmed there is no danger to public health. Municipal water systems continue to be monitored by the EPA; no reports of impacts have been received to date. For additional information, please visit www.epa.gov/yellowstoneriverspill2.

PIPELINE REPLACEMENT

We are working to ensure we meet the requirements of U.S. Department of Transportation’s Corrective Action Order before we resume pipeline operations in Billings.

In order to lessen the impact of the pipeline shutdown on the local economy, we have also begun preliminary work for the replacement of the pipeline. This work includes discussions on permitting requirements, rights of ways, drilling equipment, contracting and pipeline fabrication and transportation.

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Posted by Shelley Burke on Aug 1 2011. Filed under Fossil Follies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry