More people join ExxonMobil water quality drive

More cleanup specialists have joined a major ExxonMobil water quality drive after hundreds of barrels of crude oil were released into Montana's Yellowstone River.

The firm said between 32,000 and 42,000 gallons of oil leaked into the river on Friday (July 1st) from a ruptured pipeline.

While high water has helped disperse some of the oil, the cleanup has been delayed by flooding.

Duane Winslow, the county's emergency services director, said: "It's too dangerous to do anything on the river, to put out any sort of boats or anything.

"So people will be working from the shores rather than out in the middle of the river."

Around 200 workers are currently battling to remove the oil and return the river's water quality to pre-disaster levels.

Gary Pruessing, the president of ExxonMobil's pipeline subsidiary, said that the company would remain on site until the cleanup process had run its course.

At the time of the spill, some 200 residents were evacuated from the area.

Recently, a 42-year-old man from the UK was jailed for his part in a fuel laundering operation that resulted in damage to the water quality of the Grand Union Canal in Bedfordshire.

Posted by Claire Manning