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Yellowstone River

Exxon says failed Mont. pipeline was deeply buried

Last updated Wednesday, July 6, 2011 - 2:42pm

BILLINGS, Mont. -- Exxon Mobil Co. reassured concerned regulators that an oil pipeline beneath the Yellowstone River was buried deep enough and not in danger just a month before it broke in a flood and spewed an estimated 1,000 barrels of crude into the waterway.

Details about Exxon Mobil's actions leading up to the Friday night spill into one of the West's premiere rivers emerged in federal safety documents as cleanup work continued downstream of the rupture site in the Montana town of Laurel.

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Oil covers a pond along side the Yellowstone River in Laurel, Mont., Tuesday July 5, 2011. An ExxonMobil pipeline near Laurel, Montana ruptured and spilled an estimated 1,000 barrels of crude into the Yellowstone. (AP Photo/Jim Urquhart)

Montana residents outraged over oil spill

Molly Hennessy-Fiske Los Angeles Times

Last updated Wednesday, July 6, 2011 - 9:41am

An oil spill in Montana's Yellowstone River surged toward North Dakota on Sunday as outraged residents demanded more government oversight of Exxon Mobil's cleanup.

An estimated 750 to 1,000 barrels, or up to 42,000 gallons, spilled overnight Friday through a damaged pipeline in the riverbed, Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said. The break near Billings could be related to the river's high water level, officials said.

More than 100 people were working on the cleanup late Sunday, Jeffers said. But local officials said because of the raging floodwaters, only a handful of crews were laying absorbent pads and booms to trap the oil along short stretches of the river between Billings and Laurel. In some areas, residents said, oil may be flowing underneath the booms and continuing downstream in the murky water.

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