Enbridge, law enforcement still keeping media away

MARHSALL TWP — On Sunday evening, Michigan Messenger was initially denied access — again — to a key oil spill site after attempting to record video of the Kalamazoo River where it crosses under 15 Mile Rd, the same site where we recorded video on Tuesday showing dramatic ribbons of oil and heavy sheen on the surface of the river as it passed under the bridge.

EPA and Enbridge officials have said the river clean up has made significant progress in the past several days.

However, when Messenger arrived at the site a security officer working for Enbridge approached and said no media was allowed. Messenger requested to speak to the Calhoun County Deputy Sheriff who was at the site. That deputy cleared Messenger’s request with an official from Enbridge, but they would only allow the filming of 30 seconds of video.

During the time Messenger was waiting to speak to the deputy, a citizen video crew approached, and was turned back by the security officer.

And it isn’t only news outlets being denied access to public locations by law enforcement and Enbridge officials. Shawn Welker, volunteer coordinator for Circle D Wildlife Refuge, says his group is getting similar reports from volunteers.

“Photographers are being threatened,” Welker said.

This is the second time since Enbridge’s pipeline 6B burst late Sunday night, pouring over one million gallons of crude oil into the Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River, that Messenger has been refused entry to public right of ways to monitor the ongoing clean up operations. On Tuesday, Messenger was kicked out of the area of Ceresco Dam, located at 12 Mile Rd and C Drive in Marshall Township.

On Sunday evening, the Dam bridge remained closed to traffic and Enbridge and EPA contractors had created a series of collection sites in the area. The bridge and other areas around the dam had been cordoned off by Calhoun County Sheriff Officials.

When Messenger was there Sunday night, EPA Region 5 Director Susan Hedman and EPA Deputy Incident Commander Mark Durno were reviewing clean up efforts while standing on the bridge. Two vacuum trucks were parked on C Drive actively vacuuming oil from a skimmer in the water below the dam.

Legal experts and journalism professors say the access issue is troubling.

“The Constitution certainly protects not only the freedom of speech, but the freedom of the press. And the press is so often the eyes and ears of the public on so many of these disasters,” says Jessie Rossman, general staff attorney for the Michigan ACLU. “We certainly recognize the right of the government to reasonably work with the press on safety issues, but it can’t arbitrarily interfere with access.”

The ACLU of Michigan is currently preparing a letter to Calhoun County Sheriff Allen L. Byam expressing concern about the media access issues raised by Michigan Messenger and others working to document the oil spill and clean up efforts.

The issue echoes similar problems in the Gulf oil spill involving BP and the Coast Guard, where many reporters and photographers have been chased away from beaches while trying to document the damage done by the spill. “We recognize the important and critical role that the media plays in ensuring the public gets information,” says Rossman. “Not only do we recognize it, but the Constitution protects it as well.”

“There are serious concerns about why the sheriff’s department is doing the bidding of a private corporation,” says Bonnie Bucqueroux, an instructor at the MSU School of Journalism. “We know in this 24 hour news cycle that if you don’t have pictures, you don’t have a story. That is part of the reason they are being so ferocious on this.”

Bucqueroux called the situation “outrageous” and said groups like the ACLU Michigan and the Society for Professional Journalists should be making this situation “a cause celebre.”