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Montana to Gather Pipeline River Crossing Data

By Beacon Staff

HELENA – Montana officials on Wednesday laid out plans to map the “invisible spider web” of pipelines crossing beneath state waterways in the wake of last month’s Exxon Mobil pipeline break under the Yellowstone River.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s office estimated there are about 88 pipeline waterway crossings in the state, but only 23 of those crossings have been granted easements to cross state-owned navigable waterways.

The newly formed Oil Pipeline Safety Council, which met for the first time Tuesday, will compile an inventory of the number of pipelines in Montana, their size, location, what they carry and all the regulations that apply to pipelines in the state, the Democratic governor said.

“Because that’s something, frankly, we don’t have today,” Schweitzer said. “We need to square how it is that there are pipelines crossing rivers in Montana and they don’t have easements. How does that happen?”

The governor created the council, made up of the heads of the state departments of transportation, environmental quality and natural resources and conservation, in response to the July 1 pipeline break that dumped an estimated 1,200 barrels of oil into the scenic Yellowstone River. Most of the oil evaporated or was carried off by the swift-moving current, but cleanup crews have found contamination on roughly 60 percent of shoreline areas inspected within an area roughly 30 miles downstream from the break.

Schweitzer said the council will be seeking a complete list of pipelines from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which regulates lines that ship refined products, crude oil and interstate natural gas pipelines. The state Public Service Commission regulates intrastate natural gas pipelines.

The council plans to compile the data into an overall picture of pipeline safety in the state, then identify gaps in regulatory oversight and make recommendations on how to better prevent future breaks.

Richard Opper, the head of the state DEQ and chairman of the council, said those recommendations could include ways for the state to exert more authority, such as by requiring easements for pipelines that cross navigable waterways. The state will then have access to a central repository of information that it has never had and will be able to share with other agencies, he said.

Asked after the meeting why the state is only now seeking to compile this information, Opper said, “A lot of things happen as the result of disasters. You learn lessons.

“This incredibly complex, invisible spider web is something that has evolved over the last 50-60 years,” he said. “Information changes, new stuff is developed, we forget about old things, pipelines are abandoned and we don’t even know where those are sometimes. It’s a very complex spider web.”

Christopher Hoidal, the western regional director for PHMSA’s Office of Pipeline Safety, said most of the information the governor and the council is seeking is already known to his agency or is publicly available — pipeline location, size, pressure, valves.

What PHMSA doesn’t have, and what it plans to collect between now and October, is the details on the river crossings, he said.

“Each river crossing is different. Some are braided, some are narrow channels. We need to get the details of the river crossings to make sure the crossing can weather another flooding event,” Hoidal said.

Exxon Mobil is not represented on the council nor did a company representative in attendance speak at the meeting.

“This is a state agency issue,” Exxon public affairs official Mike Ashton said afterward. “We’re in line with them and want to make sure it’s done right, and will work with the state on these regulations here.”

More than 800 cleanup workers and support personnel are involved in cleaning the Yellowstone spill, initially believed to be caused by erosion from flooding that exposed the pipe to passing debris. Opper said state officials hope the cleanup will be able to continue through September, before snow starts falling.

Also on Wednesday, state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation director Mary Sexton said Exxon has applied for a temporary construction license to build a replacement for the broken line.

The new line would be installed at a minimum depth of 42½ feet below the river using horizontal directional drilling, with most of it deeper than 48 feet, she said.

The failed pipeline was buried at least 5 feet beneath the river bottom.

The construction license would be followed by an easement application by Exxon to use the state-owned riverbed, Sexton said. Her agency will take public comment on the proposal until Aug. 17.

Exxon also needs the approval of federal regulators, and Hoidal said his agency is looking at the plan.

“We want to review it from an engineering standpoint,” he said.