CAMP 2011: SATIIM talks to kids about the Sarstoon Temash National Park

Pipeline protesters hit Montana governor's office

By John S. Adams, USA TODAY

HELENA, Mont. — More than 100 environmental activists from across the country descended Tuesday on the Montana Capitol to demand Gov. Brian Schweitzer rescind his support for the Keystone XL oil pipeline and ExxonMobil's megaload transportation project.

Approximately 70 of those activists filled the governor's reception room, where they pounded homemade drums and chanted slogans such as: "No pipeline, no oil, the Big Sky State's too good to spoil."

Two activists also scaled the flagpoles in front of the Capitol and strung up a banner that read "Pipelines spill, Exxon kills. Big oil out of Montana."

Six activists from the environmental groups Earth First! and Northern Rockies Rising Tide, including one activist from Great Falls, locked their hands together within a mock oil pipeline made of PVC plastic pipe and said they wouldn't leave willfully until Schweitzer met their demands.

Law enforcement officials cut the activists out of the pipes. The group of activists dispersed late in the afternoon after police arrested two men and three women who refused to leave and were chained together.

Group members said earlier in the day that they would not leave until Schweitzer, a Democrat, gave up his support for two major projects related to oil sands development in Canada: the Keystone XL pipeline that would transport Canadian oil sands crude to the Gulf of Mexico; and the "Kearl Module Transportation Project," which would ship about 200 massive Korean-built oil sands processing modules across Montana highways to the Kearl oil sands region in northern Alberta. That megaload project is slated to start later this year.

Schweitzer met with the activists for nearly 20 minutes in the reception room of his office, but ultimately refused their demands.

"I'm not prepared to do that today," Schweitzer said.

Members of the group told Schweitzer that last week's rupture of ExxonMobil's Silvertip pipeline — which poured an estimated 1,000 barrels of crude oil into the Yellowstone River downstream of Laurel — is a prime example of why Schweitzer should "toss big oil out of Montana."

"We feel the Silvertip pipeline disaster on the Yellowstone is just a preview of what's to come if you continue to cater to big oil's interests and turn us into what would essentially be an energy extraction colony," said Missoula resident Max Granger of Northern Rockies Rising Tide, a group that has led protests against the Kearl Oil Sands project and the development of the Otter Creek coal tracts in Eastern Montana.

After listening to the protesters complaints and demands, the governor said he hoped the environmental activists would put their passion toward ending the nation's addiction to foreign oil.

"I will say to you that this country uses an inordinate quantity of hydrocarbons. I would say to you that 25% of all the oil that's consumed in the world is consumed by us — you, me," Schweitzer said.

Protesters cut off Schweitzer several times during the 20 minute meeting before one activist began playing a honky-tonk tune on a piano in the reception room. At that point more than a dozen protesters jumped onto the large meeting room tables and began dancing and chanting.

In a news release, Northern Rockies Rising Tide criticized Schweitzer for publicly chastising ExxonMobil while continuing to promote the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, megaload shipments bound for the Alberta oil sands and other "extreme fossil-fuel projects" throughout the state.

"As the recent ExxonMobil pipeline disaster has made clear, Governor Schweitzer is attempting to turn Montana into an extraction state, while at the same time publicly proclaiming his supposed support for clean energy, protecting the environment and building healthy communities," said activist Erica Dossa of Bozeman. "It's one or the other — you can't be clean and dirty at the same time."

A report released Monday by University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineering professor John Stansbury said that neither TransCanada nor the federal regulators evaluating the proposed Keystone XL pipeline have properly considered the risks associated with the project. Stansbury's report states that TransCanada underestimated the frequency of spills on the pipeline and the severity of the worst-case scenario spills.

TransCanada disputed the report's findings, saying in a lengthy statement that the company has more than 60 years of experience, and that safety is the company's top priority.

Pipeline Spills: Learning from Disaster

By Amy Bracken

With all the catastrophic oil spills that have happened around the world, one might assume that energy companies and regulators have learned their lessons, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

After every disaster, there’s talk of strict laws, enforcement, and oversight. Talk. Indeed, some good measures are put in place, but they’re undermined by cut corners. BP surely had an assortment of impressive measures in place when, as a White House report concluded, it took cost-cutting measures that increased the risk of a blowout.

But now let’s look at Exxon, since that’s who recently spilled tens of thousands of gallons of crude into the Yellowstone River in Montana.

I used to live in Valdez, Alaska – a small town made famous by the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, in which tens of millions of gallons leaked into the Prince William Sound, killing more than 100,000 birds, otters, seals and whales. Working for a local radio station 20 years after the disaster, I interviewed subsistence and commercial fishermen, hunters and tour boat operators about the tragedy. Some still teared up talking about the sight of the flailing oil drenched wildlife.

Litigation took so long that many affected by the spill died before seeing any of the compensatory and punitive damages they were owed. Even for those who did receive thousands of dollars, what the spill had taken from them would be lost forever. After the accident, nearby Native American villages emptied out. Residents were forced to abandon subsistence lifestyles, join the cleanup effort, and then seek jobs elsewhere, precipitating the loss of already endangered languages and cultures. Families were also casualties of the spill, as instability, unemployment and depression broke up marriages.

Today, Prince William Sound looks pristine again, but tar balls continue to cling to the sand of some beaches, and the herring population has never rebounded.

Meanwhile, locals are terrified of another spill – not so much from another tanker in the Sound as from the pipeline that runs through Alaska and across precious wetlands upon which moose, bear, salmon, swans, and millions of shorebirds depend. And there’s good reason to be terrified. Spills along other parts of this pipeline are, in fact, a common (and often unpublicized) occurrence, with thousands of barrels leaking due to corrosion and accidents.

And then there’s the latest large spill, on the Yellowstone River in Montana. The cause of the crack in the pipe under the river is still unknown, and it took the company an hour to stop the leak. By that time, some 42,000 gallons had spilled into the rushing water. With the river flooded, oil coated lawns, farmland and ponds. Among the affected are fishermen (the river is known for its fishing), farmers (who use the river for irrigation) and neighbors (who worry about health effects of inhaling fumes from the spill). But the scope and severity of the impact is not yet known. Oil has been found more than 270 miles downstream.

Now let’s return to Belize. If such a disaster can happen in the United States at the hands of one of the world’s richest and largest oil companies, what does it indicate about the risks of oil exploration by a small private company in a country like Belize, where laws and enforcement are far more lax?

Texas-based US Capital Energy (USCE) has been exploring for oil within the Sarstoon Temash National Park, cutting seismic lines that cross both Sarstoon and Temash rivers, and many creeks. If a spill were to happen in this area, the impact on the nearby wildlife and villages could be catastrophic. The park itself is home to threatened and vulnerable species, like the West Indian Manatee, the Hickatee Turtle, and the Morelett’s Crocodile – all of which could be directly hurt by a spill. This is one reason that the convention on wetlands in Ramsar, Iran, designated the park ‘a wetland of international importance.’ And oil in the Temash would surely spill into the ocean and reach the barrier reef, which lies just some 50 miles offshore – a small fraction of the distance oil has traveled in the Yellowstone River. Finally, as in Alaska, small, nearby indigenous villages would be most affected by any harm to this natural environment.

And yet, protection of this precious area is anything but guaranteed. The Belizean government is so blithe to health, safety and environmental risks that it didn’t even demand an Environmental Impact Assessment for USCE to explore there until it was required to by a Supreme Court ruling (SATIIM vs. Forest Department). It is this very administration, along with the determined but cash-strapped Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management (SATIIM), that is charged with protecting the park.

The prospect of oil in one’s backyard can spark the imagination, eliciting hopes of quick development and wealth, an escape from the hardship of daily life. USCE might indeed build a swing set or a building to house a clinic and bring some computers to a village. It might also provide some temporary jobs and pave a road, but the real long-term and irreversible impacts just might be environmental, economic, and cultural devastation.

Corporations and governments might not learn from past mistakes, but the people who will suffer from them have a responsibility to study, learn, and join together to demand their own protection.

For more information on oil drilling and the Sarstoon Temash National Park, contact SATIIM: www.satiim.org.bz, satiim@btl.net, 501-722-0103, 81 Main Street, Punta Gorda Town, PO Box 127, Toledo District, Belize, C.A.

Bringing the Amazon to Central America

Sarayaku at the Inter-American Court in Costa Rica

July 11, 2011 | Andrew Miller

Amazon Watch

Over the past four years as an Amazon Watch campaigner, I have had the opportunity to meet some extraordinary indigenous leaders from around the region. None are more inspirational, however, than the tremendously savvy, well-organized, and persistent Kichwa from Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Last decade, the Ecuadorian government made the mistake of trying to force oil exploration on the Kichwa, without any prior consultation. When the community pushed back, the government sent in military forces and the companies used nefarious divide-and-conquer strategies, including inciting violence. This is of course standard across the Amazon. In this case, however, the colluding forces of government and oil companies didn't comprehend how fierce and dogged the community's resistance would be.

Sarayaku is the model par excellence of how to wage a multi-pronged strategy on behalf of the rights of an indigenous people. The foundation is perpetual local-level community organizing, including an effort to build leadership and involve all sectors of the community. Building upon this, they have reached out to allies on national and international levels, strengthening a widespread network of support in Ecuador, Latin America, the U.S., and Europe. A third element is a commitment to building their own in-house technological and media outreach capacities.

All of this was evident this past week when a significant component of their international strategy – bringing the Ecuadorian state to court before the Inter-American human rights system – culminated before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica. Because Amazon Watch's Ecuador Program Coordinator Kevin Koenig was otherwise busy back in Quito, I was tasked with accompanying them in San José. Previously, I had met a number of their leaders and organized meetings and media interviews for a delegation when they were in Washington, DC in late 2009.

By strategic choice, they turned the Court's hearing room into Little Ecuador, replicating their own dynamic and strengths to the degree possible. First, they brought an impressive group of community leaders, elders, and children, totaling 18. Then, they invited many indigenous and civil society allies to accompany them. Of course their lawyers from Fundación Pachamama and CEJIL were there. Additionally, their entourage included Humberto Cholango, the new president of Ecuador's national indigenous alliance CONAIE, a campaigner from Amnesty International's London headquarters, various other long-time allies, and myself from Amazon Watch.

Sarayaku harnessed the power of media and internet technology to get the word out about the landmark hearing, and to keep their own community members informed about each of their activities. Prior to their trip, Sarayaku whiz kid Eriberto Gualinga produced a short video as a popular introduction to the delegation's plans. They held multiple press conferences, in both Quito and San José, which garnered an increasing amount of coverage as the hearings drew near. The hearings themselves were telecast via the Court's website, and watched simultaneously on multiple continents, including within Sarayaku.

On Wednesday, the first day of the hearing, they prepared by dressing in traditional clothing and painting their faces with ceremonial designs. The group marched from their hotel to the Court and performed a ceremonial act immediately outside, bringing the full spiritual force of their homeland to the Los Yoses barrio of San José. The ceremony involved drumming, dancing, the invocation of a sacred song by 90-year old spiritual elder Sabino Gualinga, and the nasal inhaling of tobacco juice. Some 40 people, both friends and functionaries of the Court, watched on.

In the Court's hearing room, Sarayaku offered four witnesses, each of whom provided powerful and often emotional testimony. Patricia Gualinga spoke out and served as an interpreter for Sabino Gualinga and Ena Santi, both of whom delivered their testimonies in Kichwa. Marlon Santi, former president of both Sarayaku and CONAIE, broke down crying after entreating the government to respect the community's rights and to leave them to live in peace.

Though not a witness, Sarayaku President José Gualinga made a statement on behalf of the community in the final oral arguments session on Thursday afternoon. He concluded stating that "We have always, and will always protect and nurture our Mother Earth, the forest that nourishes us every day. We from the world of the Kichwa culture are always ready to defend the right to life and the rights of nature."

Expert testimonies were provided on Thursday morning. James Anaya, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, spoke at length about the state of indigenous rights. He noted that, "Unfortunately, today there persists a line of thinking that continues with the image of the indigenous as a savage, though perhaps not using this word, and uses this image to justify new acts of undermining indigenous participation. But fortunately, there exists another line, one of recognition, appreciation, and inclusion of indigenous peoples. This line of thinking is a threat to the legacy of the history of oppression. This new line manifests itself in new international instruments, like the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and new constitutions like that of Ecuador."

The Ecuadorian State's arguments were emblematic of how governments attempt to defend their egregious behavior. Some were standard – That oil development is essential to the broader development of the country and that the local communities are an obstacle to such. Others were bizarre – that the court having issued protection measures for Sarayaku somehow lessened the security of neighboring communities. Implicit within the latter argument is the notion that the Ecuadorian state has pushed that Sarayaku is the perpetrator of violence against their neighbors. This point was made by one of the State's witnesses, David Gualinga, a Kichwa individual who was expelled from Sarayaku 15 years ago and has since had a contractual relationship with oil companies and the government. Bringing a competing indigenous voice to the court is a standard tactic, attempting to demonstrate that there are conflicts amongst the indigenous groups.

James Anaya addressed this final point when he noted that many indigenous conflicts are brought on by outside interests.

The broader implications of the Sarayaku case

The Sarayaku case, focusing on events in 2002 and 2003, is really about the future of the indigenous territories which cover the great majority of the Amazon rainforest.  The Correa government is currently in the process of repeating the same violations of indigenous rights via expansion of oil exploration throughout the southern Ecuadorian Amazon without the consent of numerous affected indigenous peoples.  A favorable judgment in this case would add pressure for the Ecuadorian government to finally enter into good-faith consultation with affected and vulnerable communities.

The Sarayaku case is emblematic of dozens of other situations across the Amazon rainforest in which governments have promoted extractive industries, including oil extraction, mining, and mega-dam construction, against the express wishes of local indigenous peoples.  A strong judgment in favor of Sarayaku's claims would provide additional moral and judicial weight to the Amazon-wide demand for drastically improved protection of the rights of indigenous peoples and the defense of their environment.

The Court's judgment is likely to be made before the end of 2011. As in the case against Chevron, the eyes of the world are closely watching the legal outcome of the Sarayaku case within the Inter-American human rights system. Whatever the decision, however, the people of Sarayaku will continue to campaign for respect of their rights, and Amazon Watch will continue to support them.

Exxon has yet to craft Montana pipeline fix plan

Tue, Jul 5 2011

* No date for restart as investigation continues

* High river levels hampering investigation of cause

* Refinery at "minimum rates" until secure other supply (Recasts, updates details about spill, adds comments from pipeline company president)

By Kristen Hays and Erwin Seba

HOUSTON, July 5 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) does not have a definite repair plan yet for the ruptured Montana crude oil pipeline that it shut over the weekend, and company and government officials are still trying to determine the cause of the spill, a top executive said on Tuesday.

The company and state and federal investigators are "working in parallel, looking at both the investigation, trying to determine what happened, as well as possible repair plans," Gary Pruessing, president of Exxon Mobil Pipeline Company, told reporters in a briefing.

"We do not yet have a definitive plan on when we will be able to restart the line," he said.

Exxon estimated that up to 1,000 barrels (42,000 gallons) of oil spilled into the rain-swollen Yellowstone River when its Silvertip crude oil pipeline ruptured late Friday. Exxon said it shut the 40,000 bpd pipeline early Saturday within seven minutes of discovering a pressure loss that indicated a rupture.

High, rushing water in the river was hampering the probe, but Pruessing said the company hadn't confirmed any soiled areas beyond 25 miles downriver.

"River levels continue to be very high, the river is very strong, that does become something we need to consider in trying to get at the actual site where the incident occurred," Pruessing said.

He said Exxon may use directional drilling to reach the rupture site.

"We need to give the experts a little bit of time to determine the safest way to do the repair," he said.

The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency are investigating the cause of the spill, along with Exxon Mobil and Montana state environmental regulators.

Sherman Glass, global president of Exxon's refining and supply, said the company's 60,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Billings, Montana, was running at "minimum rates" as the shut pipeline is its primary source of crude supply.

Glass said Exxon was working with other refineries in the area to line up additional crude supply, with "some success," and that the plant would have adequate gasoline and diesel for customers "for at least the next couple of weeks."

"We're optimistic that over the next few days we'll line up the crude needed to keep the refinery running. Maybe not at full rates, but certainly running well," Glass said.

Last year Enbridge Inc (ENB.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) experienced two larger leaks from ruptured crude oil pipelines.

Nearly a year ago Enbridge's (ENB.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) 290,000 bpd Line 6B, which runs from Indiana to Ontario, was shut for nine weeks after it ruptured and spilled 19,500 barrels (819,000 gallons) of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River system. The line feeds refineries in Detroit, Toledo, Ohio and several in Canada.

In September Enbridge's 670,000 bpd Line 6A, which feeds Chicago-area refineries as well as the Cushing, Okla. crude oil hub, leaked 6,100 barrels (256,200 gallons) of crude near Romeoville, Illinois, and was shut for about two weeks. (Additional reporting by Anna Driver; Editing by David Gregorio)

Courting Justice: Sarayaku v. Republic of Ecuador

July 1, 2011 | Kevin Koenig

Amazon Watch

In a packed press room in Ecuador's National Congress building yesterday, leaders of Sarayaku – the representative community of Kichwa indigenous peoples at the gateway to Ecuador's Amazon – brought their calls for justice to the country's capital en route to the Inter-American Court on Human Rights in San Jose, Costa Rica, where they will testify in the final hearing of their case against the Republic of Ecuador for human rights violations.

The case stems from a variety of rights abuses inflicted upon the community between 2002 and 2003 when armed forces and oil workers from Argentine company CGC entered Sarayaku territory – without the permission nor consultation of the community – and began seismic testing activities in search of oil.

"In the beginning we did not understand what was happening, it seemed like a nightmare; all of a sudden armed forces entered with the petroleum company," recalled Sarayaku President Jose Gualinga in a press release. "We had always believed that there was a respect for our territory and our authorities. The company incited panic, created divisions amongst families and provoked violence. The impacts are still felt and will be difficult to erase from our memory."

In response, Sarayaku waged a historic campaign to defend their lands and keep the company out. Met with adamant resistance, the Ecuadorian military and company, in cahoots, sought to break the community by any means necessary. Sarayaku members were detained and tortured by the armed forces at the CGC oil facility, the military blocked and patrolled rivers in and out of Sarayaku in an attempt to isolate and intimidate the community, and CGC left highly explosive material used in seismic testing scattered throughout Sarayaku territory.

The case has wide sweeping implications for indigenous peoples across the Americas. It is a major, precedent-setting case of accountability – will the government of Ecuador be held accountable for egregious rights abuses against its own citizens? Given that the current administration of Rafael Correa seeks to open up some six million acres of pristine rainforest and indigenous lands to new oil drilling, which includes Sarayaku, a "get out of jail free" card to the government will only guarantee future abuses.

Also at play is the right to consultation regarding "development" activities on indigenous lands. Sarayaku is advocating for the principle and application of Free, Prior, Informed, Consent (FPIC). This is essentially the right to say "No" to any proposed project that the community is not in agreement with. A binding decision from the Court on FPIC and its application this will not only set precedent in Ecuador (where there currently is no law on consultation though the Constitution guarantees the right to it), but throughout Latin America where indigenous peoples are fighting for this basic right.

According to Gualinga, "We do not want oil exploitation in our territory. Where there was seismic exploration there are no longer animals, the forest is empty. My people are fighting for their dignity, for reparations of the damages caused, and for the removal of the pentolite planted in our territory. We hope to achieve justice, that this never comes to repeat itself."

Stay tuned here where we will post updates of the Sarayaku delegation to Costa Rica and their historic effort for justice. The hearing will be streamed live on July 6th (3 pm Costa Rica time) and July 7th (9 am Costa Rica time) at www.corteidh.or.cr.

The roughly 20 men, women, children, elders and medicine people are still in need of financial support to get there. Please support them by joining the Cause on Facebook and donating now!

http://amazonwatch.org/news/2011/0701-courting-justice-sarayaku-v-republic-of-ecuador

LA Times: Oil spill outrages Montana residents

Up to 42,000 gallons surge overnight Friday into the Yellowstone River, and some say Exxon Mobil's cleanup needs more oversight.

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times
July 4, 2011

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An oil spill in Montana's Yellowstone River surged toward North Dakota on Sunday as outraged residents demanded more government oversight of Exxon Mobil's cleanup.

An estimated 750 to 1,000 barrels, or up to 42,000 gallons, spilled through a damaged pipeline in the riverbed, Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said. The break near Billings could be related to the river's high water level, officials said.

More than 120 people were working on the cleanup late Sunday, Jeffers said. But local officials said because of the raging floodwaters, only a handful of crews were laying absorbent pads and booms to trap the oil along short stretches of the river between Billings and Laurel. In some areas, residents said, oil may be flowing underneath the booms and continuing downstream in the murky water.

Jeffers said most of the oil was believed to be within 10 miles of the spill site, and Exxon crews were flying over the area late Sunday to assess how far it had spread since the Friday night spill.

But Montana's governor disputed the 10-mile estimate.

"Nobody can say definitively," Gov. Brian Schweitzer said. "It's too early. We need boats on the water," not just flyovers. Because of the high water, however, boats were potentially unsafe.

There were reports of oil as far as 100 miles away near the town of Hysham, Yellowstone County Commissioner Bill Kennedy said.

Although the spill is downstream from Yellowstone National Park and the fertile Yellowstone fly-fishing grounds, some officials worried it could harm the tourism industry, which draws 11 million visitors a year to a state with a population of just 980,000.

"We take our rivers very seriously here in Montana," said Schweitzer, a soil scientist who planned to visit the spill site Tuesday. "We will not allow this catastrophe to affect the $400-million trout industry in Montana."

Schweitzer, a Democrat, said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had been working with state agencies to investigate the cause of the spill and would test air, water and soil samples. Exxon will be expected to pay for the cleanup so that "everybody along that river is made whole," he said.

But residents were worried.

"We can't really tell what it's going to do for our fisheries downstream," Eric Beebee, 37, said as he worked Sunday at Bighorn Fly and Tackle Shop in Billings. "If it was going to affect anybody, it's going to be the farmers and the ranchers because the water is pushed up so high, when it recedes [the oil is] going to be left on their land."

Goat rancher Alexis Bonogofsky pulled on waders and slogged through the oily residue at the bottom of her pasture, snapping photographs of oily grass and water.

"Places where the water has gone down the soil is shiny, there's residue oil and you can see where the grass is already dying. I'm really concerned about the wildlife," said Bonogofsky, 30, who also works for the National Wildlife Federation. "I've seen Canada geese try to take off and they can't get lift because of oil on their wings."

An Exxon crew arrived at her ranch south of Billings late Sunday to lay absorbent pads on oil patches.

Bonogofsky and husband Mike Scott, 31, who works for the Sierra Club, were trying to organize landowners to demand more transparency and accountability from Exxon. She faulted local public health officials for failing to conduct their own reports and relying instead on Exxon.

"Exxon says they are monitoring it, but we don't have access to that data," Bonogofsky said.

"We're sort of in limbo here," Scott said. "We have been spending a lot of time in the soil, and our livestock has. Nobody is telling us what we could have been exposed to."

Jeffers said he met with some residents Sunday and assured them that company tests, including air quality monitoring, showed no cause for alarm.

"There's no effort to withhold important information from the public," he said. "We have not seen anything that causes public health concern."

Exxon pipeline workers became aware of a problem shortly before midnight Friday when pressure readings in the pipeline dropped, Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. President Gary Pruessing said Sunday. Workers turned off the pumps within six minutes, he said.

Jeffers said Exxon had temporarily turned off the foot-wide pipeline in May out of concern that seasonal flooding could damage it. The company reopened it a day later after reviewing the 20-year-old pipeline's safety record.

"We did a safety analysis and concluded the line was safe to operate," Jeffers said.

The pipeline was last inspected in 2009 using a robotic device designed to detect corrosion and other flaws, Jeffers said.

The most recent depth tests, in December, showed the pipe was 5 to 8 feet below the riverbed, he said. But that was before record rains and melting snowpack flooded the river in May, which Exxon and government officials have said may have exposed the pipe to damage from debris.

"That's just speculation at this point," Jeffers said. "We don't know at this point what caused it."

Some officials feared the oil would reach the Missouri River, just across the border in North Dakota.

"The water is fast and furious," said Kennedy, the Yellowstone County official. "I'm hoping that we get it cleaned up and stopped before it even approaches there."

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times