Exxon Mobil Corp. has completed $20 million worth of upgrades to a pipeline that ruptured and spilled 1,500 barrels of crude oil into Montana's Yellowstone River.
Spokeswoman Rachael Moore said Tuesday the company has re-drilled sections of the 12-inch pipeline so it now passes up to 70 feet deep beneath two waterways, Rock Creek and Clarks Fork.
Similar work was completed last year on a third section of the Silvertip pipeline beneath the Yellowstone near Laurel.
The line was just a few feet beneath the river bottom when it was installed 20 years ago.
ADVERTISEMENT
State and federal officials speculate that flooding on the Yellowstone eroded the river bottom and exposed the pipeline to damaging debris and powerful river currents.
A federal investigation into the July 1 spill remains pending.