UPDATE
This was the question I asked earlier Tuesday morning on Voices of Montana, our statewide radio talk show:
Wasn’t aging infrastructure a key takeway from last pipeline rupture? How old is this pipe in Glendive? #MTPol #MTLeg
— Aaron Flint (@aaronflint) January 20, 2015
Later on in the show, we previewed Tuesday’s State of the Union Address with Congressman Ryan Zinke (R-MT). Toward the end of the show, Zinke described the pipeline break in Glendive as a “serious” situation, but also added that we need to upgrade our infrastructure in Eastern Montana.
Click below to listen:
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INITIAL POST
Bottled water is disappearing from the store shelves, as the above picture sent to me from a listener in Glendive shows. This, as cleanup from an oil spill in Glendive continues, and new reports show elevated levels of Benzene (a cancer-causing agent) in the water supply. Officials added that there appear to be no short-term health hazards.
KTVQ.com: Bottled water for Glendive residents won’t arrive until Tuesday
Residents will have to wait longer, until 10 a.m. on Tuesday to receive bottled water.
Authorities in Sidney and Williston, N. D. have also been alerted and their water was also tested Monday morning but it has not been confirmed if the water has been contaminated.
The water will be available for pickup at the Eastern Plain Event Center located on 313 South Merrill Avenue.
Washington Post: Drinking water trucked into Montana city after oil spill
Officials said Monday that they were bringing truckloads of drinking water to the eastern Montana city of Glendive after traces of 50,000 gallons of oil that spilled into the Yellowstone River were found in the city’s water supply.
But locating the rest of the oil could prove to be difficult because some of it is trapped under the ice that covers much of the river.
“We really can’t see it, so we’re going to have to hunt and peck through ice to get it out,” Peronard said.
Billings Gazette: Cancer-causing agent detected in water after pipeline spill
A cancer-causing component of oil has been detected in the drinking water supply of an eastern Montana city just downstream from a crude oil spill that entered the Yellowstone River.
Officials say elevated levels of benzene were found in samples taken from a water treatment plant that serves about 6,000 people in the agricultural community of Glendive.
Scientists from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the elevated amounts of benzene are above the levels recommended for long-term consumption but don’t pose a short-term health hazard.
Reuters: Pipeline expected to remain closed after oil spill in Montana
The leak in the line serving producers helped narrow Bakken crude’s differential to the West Texas Intermediate benchmark price on Monday, which shrunk to $5.40 per barrel from Friday’s settlement price of $5.80 under WTI, according to Shorcan Energy Brokers.
The Poplar pipeline has been an attractive conduit for Bakken crude since the shale boom began in 2010, and Bridger has often needed to ration the amount shippers could send due to the line’s limited capacity, according to Federal Energy Regulatory Committee documents.
One trader said the line, which runs from the Canadian border to meet the Butte pipeline near Baker, Montana, was too small for its closure to have a big impact on oil markets. However trading was light due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the United States