Comment

Comment by windy windlan on July 21, 2011 at 10:23am

I think you should invest in a mike with the wind-guard muffler. They're not expensive. Even taping some cotton over the mike will make a world of difference.

Thanks for the story on the oil pipeline break though.  

Comment by claris e. drouet on July 21, 2011 at 1:24am

This is not the work of WE, OUR, OURS... it is the work of THEM, THEY, THEIRS.It is not as simple as I drive and need these products. It is that all newer Technologies have been suppressed by the very Corpoartions that supply us with the fuels we use now. GOD has absolutly nothing to do with this. WE change ourselves and force these corporations by way of voting with our $$££. We as a human race need to turn it all back to the THEY must change, Their destruction of creation, Those profits they make came from our pockets. DO NOT take that extra trip, plan ahead and ask friends to share the ride. We can be better than this it is sure, we need to use the intellectual gifts and not the self centered life styles pushed on us from every angle

Comment by Bruce Hopkins on July 20, 2011 at 12:49pm

Let's see, if we'd just stop downloading oil from OUTER SPACE and pouring it over the land, we'd be OK ... Oh, wait, you say, oil comes from underground of our own planet??

 

Maybe our ecosystem will take care of itself and we don't have to panic and throw millions of tax dollars at it....

Comment by LYNN SHEDLER on July 20, 2011 at 4:21am

That's why they tell us to phone before you dig (hydro, phone lines). lol That land will be contaminated forever. Terrible for the ECO System. It's useless land.

Comment by truth on July 20, 2011 at 3:35am

All photos copyright of Destini Vaile


Destini Vaile and Reed Perry
Activist Post

Plenty of people have heard of the recent oil spill on the Yellowstone River in Montana.

Few are aware, however, that three weeks ago another leak formed a creek of crude running down to Cut Bank River just miles from Glacier National Park.

Cowardly local papers, perhaps for fear of hurting tourism or stepping in front of juggernaut corporations, have completely ignored reports from environmental officials and concerned citizens.

They have often repeated the drilling company’s press releases verbatim.

We were on site and documented it.

The corporation’s reports are false. How can 420 gallons of oil travel a mile through a wheat field into a wetland, down a winding ravine and into a river?

It was much much larger. We also do not know when it began, but we know it was three weeks ago was when it was first reported.

A break in an oil collection pipeline on the eastern prairie of the Blackfeet Reservation approximately 5 miles from the town of Cutbank has led to a flood of crude that has been flowing approximately one mile over land and into the Cutbank river.

Tribal officials received word of the spill on Tuesday, but it remains unclear when, or why, the pipeline — which is managed by FX Drilling — actually began leaking oil.

Tribal officials confirmed that oil was spotted in the river at least two weeks ago by a kayaker who reported to 911 that he was paddling through oil.

According to a preliminary investigation by the Blackfoot Environmental Department, FX Drilling attempted to fix the pipeline after the 911 call, but left the break unmended for over a week, claiming they were unable to access the site. Also, according to the investigation, FX failed to initiate cleanup on the site after fixing the pipeline.

On Wednesday, nearly three weeks after the initial discovery of the spill, absorbent booms were finally placed by Indian Country Environmental Associates (ICEA) on the shore of the Cutbank where the oil merges with the river. ICEA is a company contracted by the tribe to handle cleanup of oil spills on the reservation.

FX Drilling Corporation has claimed that the leak released “two barrels” of oil, or 84 gallons. However, officials with the Blackfeet Environmental Department have estimated the spill to be “several thousand gallons.”

The volume of oil observed at the site was large enough to seep through a wheat field and down a coulee for approximately one mile where it entered the Cutbank River. It is the second significant release of oil into Montana rivers during the last month.

Several questions plague the indicent, not least is FX Drilling’s handling of the spillage. Their failure to disclose the event to the press, community