July 5th, 2011
11:44 AM ET

Montana governor to tour oil spill along Yellowstone River

Montana's governor is scheduled to tour polluted areas of the Yellowstone River on Tuesday, days after a pipeline break sent thousands of gallons of oil gushing into the river's rushing waters.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer also will join state disaster response and environmental officials for a media briefing on the spill at noon ET, according to his office.

The crisis began late Friday, when ExxonMobil reported that 750 to 1,000 barrels (32,000 to 42,000 gallons) of oil escaped through a crack in one of its pipelines in the Yellowstone River in Laurel, about 16 miles southwest of Billings. The company said it shut down the line within minutes, but not before toxins had been dumped in the water.

ExxonMobil said Monday night that more than 280 people have converged on the area near Billings, including workers from the Texas-based oil company and the Clean Harbors environmental firm. Schweitzer told CNN the cleanup effort has been "pretty good" thus far, though he criticized the speed and comprehensiveness of the response.

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  1. banasy

    Although I admire the Governor's impatience at the slow-going of the clean-up, it has to be done *right*.
    Hurrying through this job will cause sloppy result, and we don't want that!

    @Sandrea Jane:
    A spammer by any other name is still a spammer.

    July 5, 2011 at 12:56 pm | Report abuse |
    • Brian

      I agree that it must be done "right" and that doing it that way will take longer, but Exxon could get the job done more quickly if they increased the number of people/amount of resources they invested in the clean-up. They're going to be commiting to the smallest expenditures that they can get away with and not whatever plan is truly best for the river/ecosystem.

      July 5, 2011 at 2:47 pm | Report abuse |
  2. Jazzzzzzz

    @ Banasy... Agreed Spams and what comes next?

    July 5, 2011 at 12:58 pm | Report abuse |
  3. fernace

    What a crazy 4th a July weekend, y'all! I blacked out sometime sunday and didnt wake up until this mornin! You aint gonna beleive the first thing I did! I pooped a golf ball! No kidding! If you read this here blog, have the initials A.L.J., and are missing a callaway ball, I got it. Gimme a call and let me know how it got there and ill give it back, cleaned and everything.

    July 5, 2011 at 1:17 pm | Report abuse |
  4. Jazzzzzzz

    @ Fernance... you are a bad boy, LOL hope you didn't do any other DAMAGE, He He

    July 5, 2011 at 1:25 pm | Report abuse |
  5. banasy

    They clean up the river.....

    July 5, 2011 at 2:31 pm | Report abuse |
  6. Philip

    I don't know exactly how many miles per hour the Yellowstone River flows, but even if it only flowed as fast as I can walk, how far down-river has this 40,000 gals of oil flowed by now? Keep in mind that I can walk purty fast.

    July 5, 2011 at 2:55 pm | Report abuse |
    • Scottish Mama

      I am in Missouri and I plan to do my oil change tomorrow.

      July 5, 2011 at 3:12 pm | Report abuse |
  7. banasy

    It *is* big business, after all. They're not going to spend a dime more than is absolutely necessary.
    Don't want to cut in on any bonuses, don'tcha know.

    July 5, 2011 at 4:03 pm | Report abuse |
  8. Philip

    I heard something about that conspiracy theory, banasy. I didn't buy-in to it though. Uncle Sam would never allow any of his neices and nephews to be swindled by giant corporations. These crazies and their conspiracies! sheesh

    July 5, 2011 at 4:31 pm | Report abuse |
  9. Richard Tescher

    ....and the waters shall turn red. I would like to see CNN do a piece on earth-filled dams and reservoirs like Fort Peck Reservoir, and the infrastructure thereof. Perhaps a piece on the validity of the Corps of Engineers is in order, in lieu of their performance concerning flood control, and our ever present danger of a dam break and the consequences. Most folks on the flood plain are about as safe as residents of New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina. This would even be worse.

    July 5, 2011 at 4:40 pm | Report abuse |
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