Schauer slams Enbridge response to oil spill

BATTLE CREEK, MI — Congressman Mark Schauer took off the proverbial gloves this morning and accused Enbridge Energy officials of not responding quickly enough to a massive release of crude oil in into Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River.

“We are going to get to the bottom of this,” Schauer said during a press conference along the Kalamazoo River. Behind him, Enbridge Energy employees were donning protective gear in order to siphon crude oil off the surface of the river.

Enbridge officials on Tuesday said the company “immediately” contacted the National Response Center.

“We called them as soon as we confirmed the leak,” said Patrick Daniel, CEO of Enbridge Energy. During the same press conference, however, he said that was at 10:30 am EST.

But Schauer released the initial incident report from the National Response Center. That document shows Enbridge officials did not call the center until 1:33 p.m. EST — three hours after the incident was confirmed.

Enbridge CEO Daniel clarified his statements this morning in a press conference.

“The agencies were notified immediately. There is a time between when you know when you have a leak and when you have all the information to make the report. That is, I think two hours. We made the call in that time,” Daniel said. “In fact an employee made the call at 1 p.m. EST, and was placed on hold for 25 minutes by the National Response Center. The employee hung up and called back. That is when the report was made.”

Then there is the fact that calls were already coming in to 911 emergency services 12 hours before that, on Sunday evening.

Durk Dunham, Emergency Management Coordinator/Director for Calhoun County, says that the timeline will be a prominent feature in the National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the incident.

“There is no question there will be an answer to this,” Dunham said. “Every rock will be turned over.”

But Schauer is not content to wait for answers from the NTSB investigation. He is introducing legislation to clarify language in federal law to define “immediate notification.” The language currently identified in federal regulations as the “earliest practicable moment.”

Schauer’s legislation will direct agencies with pipelines spills to report the incident within one hour, or face a stiff fine. The proposed fine would be $250,000. The current fine is $100,000. Schauer is also considering legislation which would increase the fine for a series of related incidents from $1 million to $2.5 million.