Exxon Oil Spill on Yellowstone River Disrupts Farms

[n2doc]

| July 5, 2011 | 4

Oil mixed with water from an oil spill along the Yellowstone River is pictured in Laurel, Montana, July 5, 2011.
REUTERS/John Warner:
By Emilie Ritter


HELENA, Montana (Reuters) - Governor Brian Schweitzer vowed on Tuesday to cling to Exxon Mobil like "the smell on a skunk" for as long as it takes to get the company to clean up a weekend oil spill that fouled an otherwise pristine stretch of the Yellowstone River in Montana.

A 12-inch Exxon pipeline ruptured on Friday night about 150 miles downstream from Yellowstone National Park near the town of Laurel, Montana, southwest of Billings, dumping up to 1,000 barrels, or 42,000 gallons, of crude oil into the flood-swollen river.

Toxic fumes from the oil overcame a number of people who reported breathing problems and dizziness and were taken to local hospitals. But state and federal officials on Tuesday said they lacked a tally of health problems or the number of riverside homes that were evacuated after the accident.

Exxon officials said shoreline oil contamination extended at least 25 miles downstream but appeared to be confined mostly to scattered pockets along the river.


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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=exxon-oil-spill-on-yellowstone

[aquart]

1. Gutted inspection, gutted rules, gutted oversight.

We can keep cutting till we drown in filthy spills, or we can create jobs in rigid and thorough enforcement.

All we have to do is make the rich less rich.