Montana
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Exxon vs. state government: Yellowstone clean-up now has dueling command centers
A week after an ExxonMobil pipeline burst under Montana's Yellowstone River, spots of oil have been found more than 80 miles downstream from the original spill. Exxon is on the clean-up case; more than 500 Exxon clean-up workers are on the scene, and the company has put down 8,000 feet of absorbent booms and 150,000 pads to soak up the oil. But the company is also being so sneaky in their proceedings that Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and his team huffed out of the incident command center and set up their own clubhouse.
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Documents show Exxon downplayed time it took to seal Yellowstone spill
ExxonMobil told federal officials and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer that they had sealed the pipeline leaking oil into the Yellowstone River within 30 minutes. But federal documents show that sealing the pipe took 56 minutes -- almost twice as long as the company originally said.
The company told the AP that the error came about because the Exxon representative who briefed officials was providing information without the benefit of notes. In other words, not really intended to be a factual statement. -
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ExxonMobil, historic flooding join forces to spread oil through Yellowstone River
The oil leaking from an ExxonMobil pipe into the Yellowstone River in Montana spread farther than the company said it anticipated. The reason, according to ExxonMobil’s spokespeople, is historic levels of flooding on the river. By Tuesday, Exxon had 280 people on the case, but still hadn’t managed to fight through floodwaters to reach the break in the pipeline. Exxon says the river is preventing its clean-up crews from going out on foot or in boats to look for oil on the river's banks.
Exxon did shut down the busted pipeline, but not before spilling more than 40,000 gallons of oil that they say it’s not yet safe to clean up, due to the floods. The company had been warned twice that it needed to check the pipeline for corrosion and update its emergency plans -- but now that there is actually a broken pipeline and an emergency, it’s obviously all the river’s fault. -
Critical List: Oil spills into Yellowstone River; Americans are driving less
42,000 gallons of Exxon oil spilled into the Yellowstone River in Montana over the weekend. Regulators had warned the company that the pipe wasn't safe.
The river's particularly high, which isn't helping clean-up.
Atmospheric pollution from China's coal use temporarily masked global warming: sulfur particulates reflected more light back into space, keeping the planet’s temperature from rising too fast. But over time the carbon dioxide released from the coal will push temperatures upwards. -
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NOAA: The new normal is hot
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center has just released an overview of its new “1981-2010 Climate Normals” [PDF]. Meteorologist Paul Douglas, founder and CEO of Broadcast Weather, explains what this means: NOAA just released the latest climate “normals” for the USA. When you hear the “average high” or “average low”, […]
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Fighting Back for Clean Air and Water
During the past week we’ve seen people across the country standing up to support the Environmental Protection Agency’s safeguards for public health. Many polluters and public officials don’t want the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address threats such as air toxics, soot and smog, coal ash, global warming, and water pollution. Thankfully, that didn’t stop […]
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God Bless America
Like Native Americans in the nineteenth century, Imperial Oil must now see the Canada-U.S. border as something of a Medicine Line: On the American side, persecution; on the Canadian side, freedom. The irony, of course, is as grand as Imperial’s plan to transport hundreds of giant pieces of industrial equipment — most larger than the […]
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Stupid goes viral: Climate Zombies of Oregon, Hawaii, Minnesota, and northern Rocky Mountains
I finish up all states west of the Rockies, throw in Minnesota, and find not one, but two Republican incumbents who admit the reality of climate change
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Needed: A 50-state strategy on climate
Low-population states often play host to one-issue activists hired by national campaigns. Local grassroots groups could yield much better results.
