Exxon "Whitewashes" Yellowstone River Oil Spill

Anytime an oil spill occurs, whether in a pristine location or not, the environmental degradation is inevitable. Those responsible try to assure the public the consequences are minimal, often overstating clean up efforts and their successes.

Exxon is being accused of "whitewashing" the recent spill on the Yellowstone River in Montana. UPI reports:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday gave Exxon two months to clean up the spill, which came from a ruptured pipeline -- a pipe officials warned Exxon about a year ago, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Exxon said it could comply with the directive, but deputy director of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality Tom Livers said Exxon had asked him to sign off on overly optimistic news releases concerning the oil spill.

Livers said he rejected the offer to sign off on a press release that said the oil spill would not be harmful to people and another that said the oil spill had been contained.

Photo:   Some rights reserved by jeffgunn

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