BILLINGS, Mont. — A Montana pipeline that spilled 30,000 gallons of oil had been split at the site of an exposed weld where the line crosses beneath the Yellowstone River, officials said, prompting a warning for pipeline companies nationwide to take precautions against flooding.
The damaged section of the 12-inch pipeline that crosses the Yellowstone upstream of the city of Glendive was pulled from the river Wednesday.
It will be sent to a laboratory in Oklahoma for analysis, said Tim Butters, pipeline safety administrator at the U.S. Department of Transportation. The cause of the split has not been determined.
“There are a number of different scenarios,” Butters said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “Was it metal-related? Was it external force related? All of that needs to be looked at.”