Damage to Yellowstone’s Ecosystem Expected To Grow As Oil Enters the Food Chain

When Exxon’s pipeline burst in the Yellowstone River earlier this month, the company said that the “pumps were shut down within seven minutes,” but the consequences from the approximately 1,000 barrels of oil that spilled into the river will likely be felt for years throughout the ecosystem.

Pallid sturgeon. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer.

There is also no way to fully appreciate the extent of the long-term financial damages that will be felt by those whose livelihoods depend on the river and the surrounding areas that it irrigates.

The affected section of the river contains highly prized populations of brown and rainbow trout as well as other fish such as the native pallid sturgeon, sauger, goldeye, channel catfish, and non-native fish, including smallmouth bass, and walleye, which are under heavy threat of contamination.

On July 5, the day the pipeline burst, the river was running at just below flood stage, and volunteers from the non-profit Trout Unlimited reported that oil was evident in wheat fields at least 40 miles downriver near a state wildlife management area and the Pompey’s Pillar National Monument.

The non-profit also worries that “as the flooding recedes, this toxic oil could easily be deposited in important shallow-water spawning and rearing habitats. Toxic components of oil, such as benzene could also threaten macro-invertebrates (i.e., crayfish, clams, and snails) and larval fish.”

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