Upton disputes reports of oil beyond Morrow Lake

The Kalamazoo Gazette reports that an aide to Rep. Fred Upton is disputing statements from the state that oil from the pipeline leak in Marshall had reached beyond Morrow Lake, halfway between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm and an official from the state’s emergency management department had both said early Wednesday evening that a “light sheen” of oil had been seen at the Morrow Dam on the west end of Morrow Lake. Upton’s aide says that is not true:

“There’s no truth to that,” said Upton, who was briefed by his own aide, Ed Sackley, who was at Morrow Lake Wednesday night. “They’re on the lake right now and there’s nothing there.” …

Sackley, Upton’s district representative, said he participated in a briefing given by officials from Enbridge Inc. and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Marshall.

“The report by the EPA and Enbridge was that there was no sheen beyond Morrow Dam,” Sackley said.

Cleanup workers had hoped that Morrow Lake would be as far west as the oil would reach and had set up booms and skimmers there to intercept the oil before it reaches the dam and flows further on toward Lake Michigan, so the question of whether the oil has breached that barrier is an important one.