Friday, August 5, 2011

Oil from ExxonMobil's Silvertip spill found on 58 percent of Yellowstone River shoreline

NEW YORK - The failed Exxon Mobil Silvertip pipeline that spilled up to 50,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River has coated 58 percent of the Yellowstone River's shoreline, according to Businessweek.com.

The tally released on July 26 by Montana Department of Environmental Quality director Richard Opper offers one the first clear gauges of the scope of the spill after weeks of high water slowed access to fouled areas.

Just over 40 percent of shoreline inspected to date had light to very light oil. Seventeen percent had moderate oil. Just one percent was heavily contaminated.

The state says the July 1 spill, which came amid flooding from mountain snowmelt, dumped up to 1,200 barrels of oil (50,400 gallons) into the Yellowstone near Laurel, Mont.

No comments:

Post a Comment