BILLING, MONT. — U.S. prosecutors suspect a Wyoming company may be hiding problems with a pipeline that ruptured in 2015 and spilled more than 50,000 gallons (240,000 liters) of crude into Montana’s Yellowstone River, contaminating the drinking water supply of a small city, according to court documents.
The government is suing the Bridger Pipeline for violations of environmental laws in the 2015 spill, which occurred after the buried line under the Yellowstone was exposed and ruptured when ice scoured the river bottom near Glendive, Montana. Prosecutors are pursuing similar claims against a company linked to a 2016 spill in North Dakota that released more than 600,000 gallons (2.7 million liters) of crude.
The accidents came a few years after an Exxon-Mobil pipeline ruptured under Yellowstone during a flood. The spills helped focus national attention on the country’s aging pipeline network, which has continued to suffer from high-profile accidents, including recent spills in Louisiana and California.
An inspection of the Bridger pipeline on behalf of the company in 2011 included a note that the pipeline was buried only 1.5 feet (0.5 meters) below the ever-changing river bottom. That would have put it at greater risk of breaking.
But after the spill, prosecutors alleged, company representatives referred to a second inspection when they told federal regulators the pipeline had been buried at least 7.9 feet (2.4 meters), giving it “adequate coverage.” ” to protect against spills.
“This raises questions, which Bridger has yet to answer, as to whether Bridger concealed material facts about the condition of the crossing prior to the Yellowstone spill,” Assistant US Attorney Mark Elmer wrote in court papers.
Bridger’s lawyers dismissed the claims of conflicting polls as “conspiracy theories.”
Pipeline company spokesman Bill Salvin said the government misread the polls.
“There was adequate depth of cover throughout the crossing,” Salvin said. “We think the government is trying to find something that just doesn’t exist.”
Federal prosecutors last month filed a lawsuit with similar claims against a sister company, Belle Fourche Pipeline, over the 2016 North Dakota spill that polluted the Little Missouri River and a tributary.
Both pipeline businesses are part of Casper, Wyoming-based True Companies, which operates 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) of line in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming.
Prosecutors allege that the spills violated the Clean Water Act and are subject to penalties of up to US$6.6 million in the Montana case and up to US$89.5 million in the North Dakota case.
Belle Fourche’s attorneys, in their initial response to the federal lawsuit, denied any violation of pollution laws Thursday. A more detailed response is expected at a later date.
Legal challenges over the spills arise as Bridger seeks to build a new pipeline from western North Dakota to southeastern Montana. The North Dakota Public Utilities Commission approved part of the line in May.
Bridger last year reached a $2 million settlement with the federal government and Montana for damages caused by the Yellowstone River spill. The company was previously fined $1 million in the case by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.