Pipeline break spills 45,000 gallons of diesel in Wyoming

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A diesel pipeline in Wyoming owned by a company that's being sued by federal prosecutors over previous spills in two other states cracked open and released more than 45,000 gallons (205,000 liters) of fuel, a state official said Friday.

Cleanup work is ongoing from the spill that was discovered by the pipeline's operator on July 27, said Joe Hunter, Emergency Response Coordinator with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. The fuel spilled on private ranchland near the small community of Sussex in eastern Wyoming, he said.

Contaminated soil was being excavated and placed into a temporary staging area, and it will be spread onto a nearby dirt road where the fuel is expected to largely evaporate, Hunter said.

The line is operated by Bridger Pipeline, a subsidiary of Casper-based True companies, according to an accident report submitted to the U.S. Coast Guard's National Response Center.

The company initially reported only 420 gallons (1,590 liters) had spilled, but later revised its estimate to 45,150 gallons (205,250 liters), according to a National Response Center database.

True and its subsidiaries have a long history of spills. In May, federal prosecutors in Montana alleged that representatives of Bridger Pipeline had concealed from regulators problems with a pipeline that broke beneath the Yellowstone River near the city of Glendive in 2015. The break spewed more than 50,000 gallons (240,000 liters) of crude into the river and fouled Glendive's drinking water supply.

In North Dakota, federal prosecutors and the state Attorney General's Office are pursuing parallel claims of environmental violations against a second True companies subsidiary responsible for a 2016 spill that released more than 600,000 gallons (2.7 million liters) of crude, contaminating the Little Missouri River...