Ice covering the river made recovery and containment difficult, at times halting the effort. Much of the oil traveled downstream under the ice, according to the DEQ. Oil sheens were reported as far away as Williston, North Dakota. Crews recovered less than 10 percent of the oil.

The busted line was the responsibility of Bridger Pipeline LLC, which is one of many companies operated by True Oil out of Casper, Wyoming. The business had a history of 30 spills and a number of fines by the time of the Glendive incident.

Prior to the penalty on Thursday, Bridger Pipeline paid for spill response, cleanup and site management work by the DEQ, according to department spokeswoman Jeni Flatow. To date, the company has paid $80,000 toward those costs, she said.

The company also paid as much as $100,000 for monitoring equipment at Glendive's water treatment plant, according to Mayor Jerry Jimison.

“As far as the city of Glendive is concerned, our water plant is back up and functioning flawlessly," he said. "We are happy with the final result here in Glendive.”