I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Wednesday night the Environmental Protection Agency revised its estimate on the amount of oil that has flowed into the Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River in Calhoun County. The EPA now says more that one million gallons of crude oil was released in the incident.
That number is significantly higher than the estimate Enbridge Energy officials have been touting. Company officials say 819,000 gallons of crude have leaked into the waterways of Calhoun County. At the beginning of the spill, the company estimated the amount of oil released at 19,500 barrells, or 789,000 gallons.
On Wednesday, Congressman Mark Schauer (D-Bedford Township) said the oil was still leaking from the pipeline. Company officials disputed that in an interview with Michigan Messenger. They said the effected area of the pipeline — about three miles of pipe — had been closed off at both ends by shut off valves, meaning the oil was not flowing through the line anymore. But they did note that it was possible remaining oil in the three mile stretch could be leaving the pipeline and contributing to the spill.
Enbridge officials said Wednesday that workers, in conjunction with the National Transportation Safety Board, would begin excavating the pipe section as part of the investigation into how the spill happened. Once the leak point has been identified, Enbridge officials said, it would be removed and sent with NTSB investigators for their investigation. Once that was completed, Enbridge would replace the removed piping.
Officials had said they expected to restart the pipeline — which carries 190,000 barrels of oil a day, or almost 8 million gallons of crude oil — within days. But late Wednesday federal officials order the company not to restart the line until further notice.
The company on announced second quarter earnings on Wednesday.
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