Yellowstone River Oil Spill: 1,000 barrels pour into Montana river

When we think of oil spills, we first turn to the oceans - like the Gulf of Mexico's Deepwater Horizon or Alaska's Exxon Valdez spill. However, the transportation of oil is not limited to just the seas and spills can occur on land, impacting fresh water bodies of water in the process.

Late this past Friday, an oil pipeline that runs six feet beneath the Yellowstone River in Montana ruptured and before crews from Exxon Oil could manage to shut it off, as much as 1,000 barrels of oil spewed into the river, according to Exxon officials. Other oil company officials estimated the quantity of oil at about 42,000 gallons.

Due to record rains and a heavier than usual snowpack, the Yellowstone River is running fast and much deeper than normal, in fact it has caused some flooding as it runs from Montana to North Dakota, meeting up with the Missouri River. Moving at 5 to 7 mph, the oil plume was first reported to be 25 miles in length but later reports have suggested it has doubled that length.

Exxon response teams are using containment booms and absorbent sheets to clean up the spill as the oil makes it way into the river's marshland banks. No chemical dispersants have been suggested as of this writing - in reviewing several news reports, I did not find anyone venturing an opinion as to how a body of fresh water could handle oil broken down into micro-globules; whether there are organisms that can consume the oil as was always touted regarding ocean spills and dispersants.

The spill occurred near Billings and downstream 140 residents from the town of Laurel were evacuated for a brief time as strong, overpowering fumes and the fear of a possible explosion prompted city officials to take action.

The Associated Press reported, "'The timing couldn't be worse,' said Steve Knecht, chief of operations for Montana Disaster and Emergency Services, who added that the plume was measured at 25 miles near Pompeys Pillar National Monument. 'With the Yellowstone running at flood stage and all the debris, it makes it dang tough to get out there to do anything.'"

Oil can have the same disastrous effect on animal and plant life as occurs in ocean spills. However, in this case, it is complicated by a fast-moving river at flood level, making containment more challenging. Residents will have to wait and see as to what becomes of the river and its ecosystem due to this spill, both in the short-term and long-term consequences.

Read about it from Associated Press/Yahoo.
Watch a video from Associated Press/The Washington Post.

Australia's Queensland Floods: aftermath poses grave risks to coral reefs

Nature has an uncanny way of healing itself from its own natural disasters, like forest fires, hurricanes and wind storm damage, and even volcanoes. The damage can be devastating but, given sufficient time, nature recovers. Time is the key factor. Time to rejuvenate and time for it to prepare for the next calamity, many of which being cyclical.

But when events happen one right after another or are working in concert to weaken the ecosystem's ability to withstand a particularly powerful disaster, or if we add man-made factors into the mix, then nature can find itself in dire peril.

Such is the case following the heavy rains and flooding that have recently taken place in and around Queensland, Australia. The flood waters don't simply evaporate but, instead, continue to move towards open sea. Swollen rivers feed into the ocean and they bring along three elements that are dangerous to the coral reef systems, offshore and to the north, that make up Australia's famed Great Barrier Reef: fresh water, sediment, and fertilizers/herbicides.

When great quantities of fresh water are introduced into a coral reef, the corals suffer tremendously as they are strictly salt water creatures. As the fresh water moves further offshore, it blends with the salt water and so the negative effects of too much fresh water are primarily limited to reefs and islands relatively close to shore.

Sediment that fans out at the mouth of rivers can also block sunlight and cover the corals. These fine particles essentially choke the corals, preventing them from feeding effectively and, with the loss of sunlight, starving the symbiotic algae that grows within the coral's tissues. Through photosynthesis, the algae converts sunlight into organic energy for the coral's benefit. But, with floating sediment, that life-giving process is disrupted.

Perhaps the corals could withstand those abuses, but then we must add man's contribution: fertilizers and herbicides. Washed down from farmlands, these chemicals stimulate plant growth, in particular seaweed and algae. Both compete for space with the coral and typically the coral loses. Nature has a way of balancing the relationship between plants and corals so that both can coexist, but with the introduction of fertilizers and other plant stimulants, that balance is thrown off kilter. Corals are rather slow growing, whereas sea plants, particularly when chemically stimulated, are very fast growing. It becomes an aquatic land grab and the seaweeds and algae soon take over.

However, even with the added impact of man-made fertilizers, coral reef ecosystems could deal with these three factors were it not for the fact that they are continually being bombarded and weakened by other hazards. Climate and temperature change, acidification, pollution and disease - one hit after another can have a cumulative effect that can leave the coral reefs exposed and overwhelmed by the negative effects of a natural disaster like the one that occurred in Australia.

The Queensland flooding has been a recent event and researchers are only now beginning to see and monitor the residual effects of the floods working their way out to sea. Coral damage from flooding has happened before and the reefs were able to heal themselves within a decade. But life in the Great Barrier Reef is different now, more precarious and fragile.

"The problem is that all forms of disturbances, loads of sediments/nutrients/pesticides, as well as bleaching events from warming seawaters, more intense cyclones and more frequent outbreaks of coral predators such as the crown-of-thorns starfish, all increase in frequency and intensity," says Dr. Katharine Fabricius of the Australian Institute for Marine Science. "This gives the reefs often not enough time to recover before they get hit again."

Read about the effects of Australia's floods on BBC News.