"Credibility is a precious thing. Oil giant ExxonMobil did not have much to begin with, but it went even deeper into its scarce reserves in the past few days when a company pipeline spilled oil into a river that runs past the homes of about 6,500 people. Wednesday brought another blow: it turns out ExxonMobil needed almost an hour to fully seal the burst pipeline instead of the 30 minutes company president Gary Pruessing had initially said it took.
Records from the Department of Transportation indicate that the pipeline's valves were not fully closed off for 56 minutes after the rupture occurred on 10:40 PM mountain time on Friday night. 'It's unsurprising,' said Ryan Salmon, Energy Policy Advisor for the National Wildlife Federation's Climate and Energy Program. 'We've seen a pattern with oil companies underestimating the amount of oil spilled and appearing to be dishonest with regards to how long it took them to shut down their lines.'"
Tara Thean reports for TIME's Ecocentric blog July 7, 2011.
SEE ALSO:
"Officials Detail Yellowstone Oil Spill Clean Up, Answer Public Questions" (Billings Gazette)
"Yellowstone Oil Spill Fuels Opposition to Proposed U.S.-Canada Pipeline" (Greenwire)
"New Oil Spill, Familiar Worries in Wake of Exxon’s Yellowstone Pipeline Breach" (Washington Post)
"UPDATE: Exxon Pipeline Oil Spill Cleanup Efforts Widening" (Wall St. Journal)
"Exxon Said Failed Mont. Pipeline Was Deeply Buried" (AP)
OpEd: "Climate Change and Disaster In Montana" (Los Angeles Times)
"Floodwater Carries Oil Along Yellowstone's Banks" (Wall St. Journal)
"Yellowstone River Spill Raises Pipeline Safety Concerns" (Voice of America)
"Feds Order ExxonMobil To Improve Safety at Ruptured Montana Pipeline" (CNN)
"Oil Impact on Yellowstone River a Long-Term Question" (MSNBC)
"Montana Governor: Exxon Focused on Shareholder Liability After Oil Spill" (Raw Story)
"Exxon Oil Spill On Yellowstone River Affects Farms" (Reuters)
EPA Yellowstone River update page
EPA Press Release of July 6, 2011
"Groundhog Day: An Oil Giant Spins a Spill"
Source: TIME, 07/07/2011
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