On a recent Sunday at 3:45 a.m. a horrendous smell woke me up. My first thought was the farmer-engineered wiring in the old house started on fire. I tried to go back to sleep hoping I could catch a couple of extra minutes before the house burned down but the smell was so bad I was compelled to get up. I walked through the house, the smell becoming more pungent with each step, until I came upon my dog Ole. I walked up to him, leaned over, and took a big…
Here’s a summary of the blog: ICYMI, the EPA and DEQ made Exxon do a sACP for their SEP and things got worse, WTF. After the 2011 Yellowstone River oil spill, Exxon was required to undertake a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP). This is a bureaucratic term that refers to a situation when a company voluntarily agrees to undertake “an environmentally beneficial project related to the violation in exchange for mitigation of the penalty to be paid.” Guess what Exxon’s SEP project was? They created a Yellowstone River sub-Area Contingency Plan (sACP) and a…
Yesterday, I wrote about my experience during the 2011 Yellowstone River Exxon oil spill. I advised people to email Governor Bullock and request the state of Montana take the lead in communication with the public and the oil spill response. I was remiss in leaving out why I think that is necessary. On July 2, 2011 I woke up and walked down to my hay fields. I found my pastures flooded with crude oil. No one called us. We were not evacuated. I’ll refrain from sharing with you what I said…
Post about the state of Montan’s response to the oil spill can be read here. Post about Glendive officials 2013 Yellowstone oil spill training can be read here. Ah, memories. In July of 2011, my farm was flooded in oil from an Exxon pipeline that burst under the Yellowstone River. Landowners along the river grouped up pretty quickly since many of our families lived there for decades and together we went through months of dealing with clean-up workers, water and soil testing, chronic coughs and stress. Now we sit back and watch…