Officials say damaged Enbridge pipe uncovered

MARSHALL — Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency as well as Enbridge Energy Partners announced Saturday cleanup crews have partially excavated the pipeline which is the source of nearly one million gallons of crude oil being dumped into the Kalamazoo River.

Mark Durno, deputy on-scene coordinator for the EPA, told reporters Saturday that the “breach” on the pipe was located at the “three o’clock” position of a clock as one looks at the pipe.

“We don’t know if there are any other breaches,” Durno said, noting that part of the pipe remains buried in oil and unstable soil. “There is no oil gushing from the breach.”

Officials from Enbridge and the EPA had been promising the line would be exposed for days. But the area where the line is located is difficult to work at because it is unstable soil, and has a high level of oil, making it a dangerous zone both from a human health perspective, but also from the risk of explosion perspective.

Enbridge officials were more optimistic in their reports Saturday afternoon, with Steve Wuori, Enbridge vice president for pipelines saying, “It is highly unlikely there is any other break.”

Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board say investigators remain on scene working. Five NTSB staffers are on the ground in Marshall, while another inspector is at the company’s Calgary Alberta control room reviewing documents there.

NTSB has said it is looking at 9-1-1 logs which show citizens began complaining about a “natural gas smell” in the area on Sunday night, hours before the company says it was aware of the leak. Michigan Messenger broke the story Friday that an official incident report from Marshall Township Fire Department apparently includes reference to the presence of an Enbridge employee at the spill site on Sunday night. Enbridge officials have denied this.