BILLINGS – Authorities have lowered their estimate of how much oil spilled from a broken pipeline beneath the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana, briefly contaminating the water supply of a city downstream.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman Wendy Thomi said Monday that Bridger Pipeline Co. recovered about 20,000 gallons of crude from its pipeline. That’s 10,000 gallons more than originally reported, meaning 30,000 gallons went into the river Jan. 17.
Thomi says the Wyoming company has finished drawing oil from the line, but very little crude has been recovered from the river, where ice has slowed cleanup efforts.
The accident temporarily prevented 6,000 people in Glendive from drinking their tap water after traces of oil were found in a water treatment plant.
Health officials are monitoring the supply, and no further contamination has been detected.