Oil spill raises familiar questions about oversight

BATTLE CREEK — Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency say they cannot confirm “absolutely” that oil has stopped flowing out of a stretch of pipe which burst Sunday night or Monday morning.

“There is no way they can absolutely be confirmed there is no more oil coming from the break until all the oil around the break point has been excavated,” says Ralph Dollholpf, EPA onsite coordinator.

Dollhopf said the soil is quite wet and unstable in the area of the leak. It is also filled with oil which is evaporating. The area is very toxic and has a significant risk of explosion. This is slowing the process to uncover the pipe — which officials had said was planned to be completed Wednesday afternoon.

EPA has described the leak source as both a pipeline burst and a break.

EPA officials also announced it has placed an EPA research vessel, the Mudpuppy, into Lake Morrow, the spot officials fighting the oil spill hope to stop the oil spill’s move down the river.

MARSHALL TWP — Two county elected officials say an employee of Enbridge Energy was on site on Sunday night, July 25, after the first reports of a million gallon oil spill came into Calhoun county’s 9-1-1 system.

Calhoun County Board of Commissioners Chairman Mike Rae and Marshall Township Clerk Cynthia Sink confirm that Marshall Township fire officials spoke and met with an Enbridge Energy employee Sunday night.
More »

More than a year ago an assessment of Enbridge’s 6B Michigan pipeline revealed corrosion on the line but as recently as this month the company was still negotiating with regulators for more time to fix the problem.

These facts were revealed this week in a Corrective Action Order issued by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Division.
More »

Michigan officials have been quick to file lawsuits to stop invasive carp from reaching Lake Michigan so they should be ready to take action to get to the bottom of this week’s Enbridge oil spill, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley told reporters yesterday.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Daley said the million gallon oil spill that has moved down the Kalamazoo River toward Lake Michigan potentially threatens Chicago’s source of drinking water.
More »

EPA officials told the Michigan Messenger this morning that no chemical dispersants will be used on the oil spill in Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River in southern Michigan.

The use of dispersants in response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has caused a great deal of controversy, as critics say their effects on human and animal life are poorly understood, especially in such large quantities.

Five days after a pipeline rupture in Marshall spilled around a million gallons of oil into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River, the company responsible has announced that the oil is around 12 percent contained.

Enbridge reported:
More »

BATTLE CREEK — As the cleanup of more than 1 million gallons of oil into Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River continues, there are a lot of words swirling around which are not in the everyday vocabulary. Michigan Messenger presents this visual glossary to help you understand the terminology.
More »