Exxon's 'disastrous' Yellowstone oil spill

The oil giant loathed by many environmentalists is feeling the heat for spilling 1,000 barrels of oil into the pristine Yellowstone River  

Oil-coated grass pokes out of a section of the Yellowstone River in Montana: Since an Exxon pipe burst Friday, more than 40,000 gallons of oil have flowed into the waterway.
(Image credit: Screen shot, CNN.com)

An Exxon Mobil pipeline ruptured Friday in Montana, spilling up to 1,000 barrels (42,000 gallons) of oil into the swollen Yellowstone River before the company could shut off the spigot. After initially saying the spill only sullied about 10 miles of the pristine waterway, about 100 miles downstream from Yellowstone National Park, Exxon on Monday acknowledged that the damage could be much more extensive. More than 280 people from Exxon, federal agencies, and the Clean Harbors environmental waste company are in Billings, Mont., to work on the cleanup effort. How bad will this "disastrous" spill be? Here, a brief guide:

What caused the spill?

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