Yellowstone River Cleanup and Recovery Update

ExxonMobil Pipeline Company provided the following update as Unified
Command cleanup operations continued Saturday following a release of oil
into the Yellowstone River on July 1.
CLEANUP STATUS
Under the direction of the Unified Command, almost 600 people are now
involved in the response and cleanup effort including ExxonMobil′s North
America Regional Response Team, the Clean Harbors and ER oil spill
response organizations and additional contractors.
We have deployed almost 33,000 feet of boom and approximately 160,000
absorbent pads to clean up oil adjacent to the river. Deployment will
continue to focus on the highest priority areas to reduce environmental
impact. Thirty-nine boats are available for deployment on the river when
conditions permit.
The EPA is leading the Unified Command Center cleanup activities and
conducting ongoing air and water quality monitoring. Ongoing air quality
monitoring has confirmed there is no danger to public health. Municipal
water systems continue to be monitored by the EPA; no reports of impacts
have been received to date. For additional information, please visit www.epa.gov/yellowstoneriverspill.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND CLAIMS UPDATE
Direct contact with those impacted by the spill continues. To date we
have received 285 calls from the community. Our team is responding to
approximately 100 claims related to property, agriculture or health, and
these claims are being resolved as quickly as possible. More than 100
calls have been from people offering volunteer assistance. We appreciate
the support of the Billings community as we work to restore the area.
Our commitment is to make every effort to respond to the concerns of
each individual within 24 hours. Additionally, we are increasing our
on-the-ground response team to work directly with people who have been
affected.
To address individual health concerns, teams of trained environmental
specialists are conducting air and water quality testing. Those who may
have been affected are encouraged to use the community information line
(1-888-382-0043).
WILDLIFE ASSESSMENT AND RECOVERY
We continue to work with International Bird Rescue (IBR), U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to survey the area
for impacts to wildlife. Members of the team are surveying the affected
areas of the river for oiled wildlife. We are also inspecting the
property of landowners who have called the community or wildlife
hotlines regarding impacted wildlife on their property.
The total number of treated wildlife is two, a garter snake and a
western toad, which were treated and released. In addition, several
lightly oiled birds were previously observed; none required capture or
cleaning.
Today, two boats are scheduled to go out onto the slack, or shallow,
water to continue to search for any additional wildlife that may have
been affected by the incident. Aerial helicopter surveys were also
completed from the spill site to just downstream of Razor Creek. Several
oiled Canada Geese were identified in today′s survey and reported to IBR.
HOTLINE INFORMATION
Community information line:
Individuals in the community who might have been impacted by this event
are encouraged to contact the community information number
(1-888-382-0043).
Wildlife hotline: Anyone who comes
across wildlife that has been impacted by the spill is asked to use the
wildlife hotline number (1-800-259-0596).
Downstream Media Relations, 703-846-4467