This Thursday, a U.S. House of Representatives panel is slated to examine pipeline safety as Exxon Mobil works to clean up a spill from a rupture of one it its lines near Laurel, Montana. The rupture on July 1 released as much as 1,000 barrels of crude oil into the Yellowstone River.
We spoke with John Ostlund, one of the Yellowstone County Commissioners last week about the spill and he told us that they were not expecting that the agricultural impact would be significant.
Dan Kennedy is a member of the Montana House of Representatives and also happens to be a landowner just downstream from the site of the spill. Dan’s river frontage is roughly a quarter of a mile downstream and he has the first overflow channel and the first set of flood plains after it.
Dan told us that he has not found any animals affected and that Exxon has stepped up to the plate.
John Ostlund told us when we spoke to him last week that Exxon will be in the picture to pay the damage payments for any crops that are impacted.
© Northern Ag Network 2011
Haylie Shipp
