Just Plain Ugly

June 9, 2009 By: Marshall Cutchin

The picture accompanying a Billings Gazette story on Sunday’s rupture of a gas line in the Yellowstone River — coming as it does on the tenth anniversary of the death of a young fly fisher from a pipe break in Bellingham, Washington — is disturbing, but not a cause for serious concern, at least according to Montana officials. “When emergency responders arrived, they found that a 4- to 6-inch, large diameter high pressure gas line had ruptured and was free flowing into the river, shooting out of the water like a geyser and creating cloud fumes, [Laurel Fire Chief Derek] Yeager said.”