Bridger pipeline in Wyoming cracks and spills 45,000 gallons of diesel fuel

AFP
Published August 13, 2022



Gas pipeline under construction. Source - PROJECT_MANAGER, CC SA 2.0.

A diesel pipeline in Wyoming owned by a company that’s being sued by federal prosecutors over previous spills in two other states cracked open and released more than 45,000 gallons (205,000 liters) of fuel, state regulators and a company representative disclosed Friday.

Joe Hunter, Emergency Response Coordinator with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality said the cleanup has been an ongoing process since the spill was first discovered on July 27 by the pipeline’s operator.

The fuel spilled into sandy soil on private ranchland near the small community of Sussex in eastern Wyoming and did not spread very far, he said.

The contaminated soil is being excavated and placed in a temporary holding area and it will be spread onto a nearby dirt road where the fuel is expected to largely evaporate, Hunter said.

According ro PBS.org, the line is operated by Bridger Pipeline, a subsidiary of Casper-based True companies, according to an accident report submitted to the U.S. Coast Guard’s National Response Center.

Interestingly, the nitial report on the pipeline break reported only 420 gallons (1,590 liters) had spilled, but later revised its estimate to 45,150 gallons (205,250 liters), according to a National Response Center database.

Truye and its subsidieries have a rather crappy record when it comess to oil spills. One particularly infamous spill took plac in 2015.

In May 2022, federal prosecutors in Montana alleged that representatives of Bridger Pipeline had concealed from regulators problems with a pipeline that broke beneath the Yellowstone River near the city of Glendive in 2015. The break spewed more than 50,000 gallons (240,000 liters) of crude into the river and fouled Glendive’s drinking water supply.

In North Dakota, federal prosecutors and the state Attorney General’s Office are pursuing parallel claims of environmental violations against a second True companies subsidiary responsible for a 2016 spill that released more than 600,000 gallons (2.7 million liters) of crude, contaminating the Little Missouri River and a tributary.

Kenneth Clarkson with the Pipeline Safety Trust, a Bellingham, Washington-based group that advocates for safer pipelines, said a thorough investigation into the spill’s cause needs to conducted.

“It’s frustrating to hear of another spill by Bridger Pipeline LLC,” Clarkson said. “This spill of 45,000-plus gallons of diesel into rural Wyoming negatively impacts the environment, wildlife, and surrounding communities.”