Calhoun County oil spill declared a disaster

MARSHALL, MI — Local, state and federal authorities have been streaming into this tiny hamlet in Calhoun county since Monday to respond to what may be the largest oil leak ever in the state of Michigan — and possibly in the entire Midwest — in an oil pipeline owned by Enbridge Energy of Canada.

As in the early days of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, estimates of the amount of oil released vary, with the company claiming a lower number than the government.

Patrick Daniels, president and CEO of Enbridge, says 19,000 barrels, or about 789,000 gallons, of oil was released. But Rep. Mark Schauer (D-Bedford Township) says the Environmental Protection Agency estimates just under one million gallons of crude oil was sent spewing into Talmadge Creek and then into the Kalamazoo River.

No matter which number is accurate, the fact is the oil has caused a massive environmental catastrophe along the Kalamazoo River in Calhoun county. Local officials Tuesday morning declared the region in a state of emergency, and Tuesday night, Gov. Jennifer Granholm declared the area a disaster area. Both declarations are necessary for the state to respond with the full resources available.

During a 4 p.m. press briefing on Tuesday, Durk Dunham, emergency management coordinator/director for the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department, told gathered news media that President Barack Obama had been briefed on the crisis as well. The White House has pledged a swift response to the unfolding disaster.

Daniels said it was still unknown what caused the release of the oil, but acknowledged it was the second or third largest oil spill in the company’s history. Schauer in a press briefing this afternoon called the release the worst in the history of the Midwestern United States.

Officials say the oil slick has reached 16 miles down the river, but they hope that booms placed in the water just outside Fort Custer State Park, located just west of Battle Creek, will prevent the oil from traveling any further.

A lingering question remains about the timing of the leak due to conflicts between statements made by the company and local officials. Daniels told the press his company became aware of the leak at about 9:30 a.m. CST (10:30 a.m. Michigan time) on Monday when a Consumers Energy employee alerted them to the release, but he later said that that they learned of the release because of monitoring equipment which noted a drop in pressure in the line.

The Consumers call was what Daniels called an “odor report” and triggered the company’s emergency response, which included a call to the federal emergency response hotline. That hotline then calls the necessary agencies.

But Calhoun Count officials say they knew about the release at 9:25 p.m. on Sunday night, when an individual called 9-1-1 to report an odor. Fire officials from the City of Marshall responded to the scene, and determined the leak was in a different township. They called that township fire department in at 11 p.m.

Dunham says he was alerted to the incident at 12:30 a.m. July 26, a full 8 hours before company officials were alerted.

Enbridge spokeswoman Lorraine Grymala when asked about the time discrepancies responded flippantly, “Maybe they didn’t know who to contact. You will have to ask them.”

Daniels, however, was more circumspect and appeared shocked at the discrepancy. He and Dunham said the timeline would be part of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) investigation.

“It’s a good question,” Dunham said.

This is not the first time the Canadian oil company has had contact with PHMSA officials. Documents from the agency show that Enbridge Energy pipelines have leaked oil on 12 different occasions in Michigan since 2002.

Most of those leaks were very small, between one and 25 barrels of oil (each barrel contains 42 gallons). But in three cases the company’s pipeline spewed 100, 120 and 500 barrels into the surrounding area. None of the spills caused injuries or death, PHMSA documents show. Those 12 cases caused a total of more than $810,000 in property damage.

Officials say the cost to clean up the oil in Marshall is unknown. Enbridge has dispatched teams from all over the country, and says there are now 200 people working for Enbridge in the area, as well as 4,300 feet of boom material to contain the oil, and 40 vacuum tankers. The vacuum tankers suck the oil of the surface of the water.

And while the Calhoun Department of Health has posted warning signs along the Kalamazoo River and Talmidge Creek warning people not to swim, boat, or fish in the water, they say it is more a precaution at this point than proof of threat to the health of the community.

Officials form the health department and the EPA say they are most concerned about air quality. With the high temperatures, the oil is more likely to evaporate benzene, a dangerous and harmful substance. Enbridge air monitoring equipment has found that the air directly above the water surface contains between five and six parts per million, while higher in the air and in the residential areas, the measure is between none and one part per million.

Health officials said the levels were considered safe, but were worried about long term exposure issues. They were not able to provide the specific measure which is considered unsafe for exposure to benzene, a known carcinogen.

And it’s not just people the spill is putting at risk. Dead fish are washing up on the shore of the creek and geese are found scattered throughout the area covered in oil.

Three of the geese were in the backyard of a man who declined to be named. He said he had called the Enbridge notification hotline at about 11 p.m. Monday night, and on Tuesday morning the hotline called back to verify his information and said some one would be over. At 1:00 p.m. the geese were still sitting just off his dock in a marshy area. They were completely covered in oil.

Enbridge officials say they have contracted with a company called Focus Wildlife to provide animal rescue services. However, the group had just located a building, said Lisa Williams from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and were busy building pens for the rescued animals as well as fixing the plumbing. The facility is expected to be up and running by Wednesday afternoon.

At this point there are many unanswered questions. What caused the leak? How often is the pipeline inspected by government regulators? What is the track record of those inspections? How much was done by the company and the government to prepare for such a contingency? Why are there such discrepancies in both the timing and volume of the leak?

The Michigan Messenger will seek to find answers to all of those questions and more in the coming days.

Eartha Melzer contributed to this report.

Here is video footage of the oil-covered water at the 15 Mile bridge in Marshall Township: