FX Energy to Plug Wells at Site of Northwest Montana Spill

According to the Associated Press, FX Energy Inc. plans to permanently shut down two oil wells in northwestern Montana where a spill went unreported for a month and spread nearly a mile before being discovered. The company is filing notice with the Blackfeet Indian tribe that subsidiary FX Drilling Co. will plug the small wells on the Blackfeet reservation and dig up the connecting flow line that spilled up to 840 gallons of crude and contaminated water. A neighboring landowner reported finding oil July 12, a month after the company had discovered the spill and fixed the line. An environmental response team says the oil traveled nearly a mile down a steep coulee, soiling the ground and filling pools of spring-fed water before reaching Cut Bank Creek. The two wells combined produce only about a barrel of oil a day — 42 gallons — and have been offline since the leak was discovered.