The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched a website devoted specifically to the oil spill in lower Michigan that has sent hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil flowing into the Kalamazoo River and on its way to Lake Michigan.
The EPA now estimates that the total spill is more than a million gallons, while Enbridge, the company that owns the leaky pipeline, continues to stand behind its estimate of around 800,000 gallons released.
On Wednesday, the EPA site announced that the agency had asked the Coast Guard to make $2 million available to fund federal operations in response to the spill and that they had taken over on-site control of the cleanup.
The site also said that the federal government “intends to seek full reimbursement for all money spent on this response from the responsible party, Enbridge, Inc.”
The EPA issued an order to Enbridge requiring it to have the flow of oil stopped by Wednesday, which appears to have been done. The order also requires the company to remediate the oil in the water and the surrounding soils by August 27, 2010, and to remediate all affected areas by September 27, 2010.




