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Just over a year after the most devastating oil spill in U.S. history hit the Gulf Coast, a new, albeit smaller scale spill has hit the Yellowstone River in Montana. Over the holiday weekend, an oil pipeline owned and operated by Exxon Mobil that runs under the river, ruptured, spilling tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the water. The spill, which happened just outside Billings, Montana, could potentially be devastating to the local wildlife and aquatic life – Yellowstone is known for its trout and bird populations. Cleanup efforts have been hampered by debris and flooding. As a result, local residents’ front yards and fields are being contaminated by oil-slicked water. Two hundred workers and 40,000 feet of protective boom are being deployed. Exxon Mobil is the world’s most profitable corporation, and the largest global oil company today. Exxon spokespersons, using BP’s 2010 playbook, have made strong assurances that all the oil would be cleaned up, and that there is minimal impact on human life and wildlife. The Silvertip pipeline that ruptured, runs from Wyoming to Montana, and was buried about a dozen feet under the Yellowstone river in 1991. It is 12 inches thick with a concrete coating, and it is not yet known exactly how the line ruptured. The accident has called into question a large and controversial project in the same area by a Canadian oil company. TransCanada hopes to construct a pipeline called the Keystone XL Pipeline under the Yellowstone River, carrying 830,000 barrels a day to Gulf Coast Refineries.

GUEST: Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, Director of NRDC’s International Program

To urge Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to stop the TransCanada Pipeline project, visit www.stoptar.org.

Read Susan Casey-Lefkowitz’s blog: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/sclefkowitz/