Exxon said failed Billings pipeline was deeply buried

BILLINGS — Exxon Mobil Co. reassured concerned regulators that an oil pipeline beneath the Yellowstone River was buried deep enough and not in danger just a month before it broke in a flood and spewed an estimated 1,000 barrels of crude into the waterway.

Details about Exxon Mobil's actions leading up to the Friday night spill into one of the West's premiere rivers emerged in federal safety documents as cleanup work continued downstream of the rupture site in the Montana town of Laurel.

AP Photo/Jim Urquhart

Oil covers a pond along side the Yellowstone River in Laurel, Mont., Tuesday. An Exxon...