More than one week after the breach of the ExxonMobil Pipeline Company (EMPCo) line under the Yellowstone River in Montana, the Unified Command in charge of the response – consisting of local, state and federal resources, as well as those from ExxonMobil – has been making progress in the cleanup efforts.

There is no doubt this has been a very difficult time for the people of Montana. EMPCo has sincerely apologized for the inconvenience the spill has caused and is determined to stay with the cleanup until the job is done.

Almost 600 people are now involved in the response and cleanup effort, and they have deployed almost 33,000 feet of boom and approximately 160,000 absorbent pads to clean up the oil. EMPCo has received 285 calls from the community and is responding to approximately 100 claims. More than 100 calls have been from people offering volunteer assistance.

We appreciate that kind of support as the company fulfills its commitment to staying with the job until the cleanup is complete.

Unfortunately, some recent media coverage hasn’t reflected all of the facts about the incident and the cleanup that have been made widely available. It is critically important to stay focused on accurate information as the cleanup moves forward, so I’d like to repeat some of the key facts here:

• Claims about the timeline of the incident: Our operators shut down the pipeline pumps within seven minutes after detecting a loss in pressure. However, shutting down an oil pipeline is not like shutting off a kitchen faucet – there are a series of valves that allow isolation of individual sections of the pipeline, which must be safely shut down. The entire process took an additional 49 minutes after the pumps were shut off, and this figure is what had been formally communicated to regulators within the Department of Transportation (DOT). EMPCo President Gary Pruessing said this process took about a half hour while speaking without his notes during a meeting with the state of Montana, but clarified later that the correct timing had already been shared with the appropriate authorities.

• The amount of the spill: Our estimate of 750 to 1,000 barrels is based on calculations of flow rates during each phase of the entire shutdown process. We have released information about how this was calculated to both reporters and government officials.

• Early statements of the extent of where oil was being found: In the initial period of the spill, confirmed reports of oil indicated that most of the oil appeared to be within five miles of the release. Naturally, as we were able to investigate further down the river, we were able to confirm additional locations where oil has been found. Reports now indicate oil found about 40 miles from the site of the release, with a second sighting about 80 miles away. However, we have not discovered any oil between 20 and 40 miles of the site of the release. We’ve reported the data we had to date to media and government officials, and we have repeatedly stated that we will go as far down river as needed during the cleanup operation.

• Claims about “violations” with the pipeline: As I said in my initial blog post on the spill, there were no violations arising from a DOT audit of the Silvertip Pipeline in 2009. A routine audit identified several issues that required attention by the company. EMPCo immediately addressed each issue and was in full compliance prior to the receipt of a warning letter from the DOT in July 2010. We have also addressed this issue with media and government officials immediately following the spill.

• Questions about water quality:  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is leading the Unified Command Center cleanup activities and conducting ongoing air and water quality monitoring. As mentioned in Saturday night’s EMPCo press release, ongoing air quality monitoring has confirmed there is no danger to public health. Municipal water systems continue to be monitored by the EPA; no reports of impacts have been received to date. You can view EPA data by clicking here.

We know there’s still a lot of work ahead of us as cleanup operations along the Yellowstone River continue. We also know that this task is too important to be diverted by claims in the media that don’t accord with the facts – facts that our team has provided to the state of Montana, the EPA, the DOT, other authorities, the media and the general public.

While our focus has been on the cleanup and response, we understand that it’s important to determine the root cause of this incident. We have a separate investigation team working to determine the cause. What we do know is that the pipeline had met all regulatory requirements and had undergone inspection most recently in December. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration performed a field audit of the pipeline’s integrity management program in June. We can’t examine the site of the incident until the flooding recedes and it is safe to do so.

In the meantime, we’re going to continue to keep our focus firmly on cleaning up the spill and staying with the job until it is done. We encourage anyone looking for information about the cleanup efforts to visit our dedicated webpage for statements, photos and other information about the response.