Bottled water is being provided to residents of Glendive, Mont., after oil from the Poplar Pipeline system owned by True Cos. leaked into the Yellowstone River.
Dawson County received complaints of odor in drinking water from people who use the municipal water system, according to a posting on the Montana government site. A water sample from the system showed elevated levels of volatile organic compounds, predominantly benzene, Bill Salvin, an outside spokesman for True Cos., whose Bridger Pipeline LLC operates the Poplar system, said in an email.
As much as 1,200 barrels (bbl) of oil leaked from the pipeline Jan. 17 and much went into the river, according to Dave Parker, a spokesman for Montana Gov. Steve Bullock. The governor’s office declared an emergency in Dawson and Richland counties along the river and as many as 50 workers from the company and federal, state and local agencies are investigating the leak.
The 12-inch crude line carries as much as 42,000 bbl a day (bbl/d) from near the Canadian border to Baker, Mont., according to Salvin, who works for Signal Bridge Communications Inc. The section of the pipeline that is shut after the leak needs regulator approval to be restarted and the line mainly carries oil from the Bakken Shale formation in North Dakota and Montana, according to Salvin.
The Poplar system connects to the 16-inch Butte line, Salvin said. Butte carries crude south and connects to other lines in Ft. Laramie and Guernsey, Wyo., according to True’s website. The line passes a 14,000 bbl/d refinery owned by Black Elk Refining LLC, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The disruption didn’t affect Black Elk refining, Black Elk’s investor relations department said in an email.
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