HELENA, Mont. (AP) _ Federal pipeline safety regulators plan to wrap up their investigation into last year's Yellowstone River oil pipeline spill next month.
Chris Hoidal is the western region director for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. He says his agency last week received a metallurgical report that reveals why the Exxon Mobil Corp. pipeline failed and spilled 1,500 barrels of crude into the Montana river in July 2011.
Hoidal on Friday declined to release the report or say what caused the break. He says that information will remain confidential while regulators decide whether to impose penalties on the Texas-based company.
Hoidal says that decision should be made and the accident investigation completed by the end of September. But he says the information may not be released to the public before November.
