Pipeline breaks increase concerns about safety

The failure of two energy industry pipelines this month has raised concerns by government officials and citizens.

The most serious failure involved the Poplar Pipeline owned by Wyoming-based Bridger Pipeline Co. About 40,000 gallons of oil spilled into the Yellowstone River near Glendive on Jan. 17 when the decades-old pipeline broke.

An oil sheen reportedly was seen 60 miles downstream from the spill, and ice on the Yellowstone River hampered early cleanup efforts. Some Glendive residents reported tasting or smelling the spilled oil in their drinking water.

The Poplar Pipeline was initially constructed in the 1950s, but the section that breached was replaced in the late 1960s or early 1970s. The spilled oil contaminated the river near the city of Glendive’s drinking water supply.

Sen. Jon Tester, a supporter of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which will transport oil from Canada’s tar sands to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico, said the Poplar Pipeline spill was avoidable and called for more regulations and inspectors. Tester continued his support for the Keystone XL pipeline, which President Barack Obama criticized in his State of the Union address.

“Montanans have waited long enough for this pipeline to be built,” Tester said.

Tester and Sen. Steve Daines announced they will take steps to protect the Keystone XL pipeline — from  low-flying bombers using the expanded Air Force’s Powder River Training Complex. The senators did not want the bombers to create a hazard where Bakken oil will be pumped into the Keystone XL pipeline at Baker.

The Keystone XL pipeline will cross the Yellowstone River about 20 miles of where the Poplar Pipeline breached. The Poplar Pipeline breach is not the first major spill in the river. ExxonMobil’s Silvertip Pipeline broke near Billings in 2011 and spilled 63,000 gallons of oil in the Yellowstone River.

Gov. Steve Bullock visited the site of the Poplar Pipeline spill on Jan. 19 and signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency in the area. The U.S. Centers For Disease Control had suggested that residents of Glendive drink bottled water, and Bullock ordered the Montana Department of Disaster and Emergency Services to bring in the bottled water.

“The health and safety of Montanans in the area impacted by this oil spill is my top concern,” Bullock said. “My expectation is that the cleanup will continue until it meets the standard of me and the people of Montana.”

Bullock also directed the state departments of Environmental Quality, Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and Military Affairs to take an active role in the oversight of the response to the hazardous materials spill.

A second energy industry pipeline failure this month occurred about 15 miles north of Williston, N.D. About 3 million gallons of brine produced by drilling rigs in the Bakken oil field spilled into Blacktail Creek on Jan. 6. Summit Midstream, the pipeline’s owner, reported on Jan. 21 that about 234,000 gallons of freshwater and brine had been removed from the creek.

The Summit Midstream spill is about three times the size of a brine spill that occurred in July 2014 near the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in western North Dakota, and about three times the size of a brine spill that occurred near Alexander, N.D. in 2006. Cleanup operations for the Alexander spill continue today.

The Poplar Pipeline oil spill drew sharp criticism from members of the Northern Plains Resource Council, a grassroots organization that has opposed construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The proposed pipeline would cross property owned by some of the group’s members.

“People should understand how serious pipeline spills are because they don’t just affect the specific site where the spill happens. They affect everyone for miles downstream, to municipal water users, irrigators, wildlife, recreationists, soil, water, air, everything,” said Dena Hoff. “This spill is another example of why landowners don’t want the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Pipelines don’t have a good track record. The Keystone XL would cross just upstream from my where my irrigation water comes from.”