Miller calls for congressional investigation of Enbridge oil spill, new regulations

Republican U.S. Rep. Candice Miller says it’s time for Congress to investigate the Enbridge oil spill and create new regulations for pipeline safety in the United States.

The Detroit Free Press reports:

“The events in the Gulf of Mexico have demonstrated how quickly devastation can occur if we are not proactive in preventing spills in the first place, and so we must make every effort to make certain this does not happen again,” Miller said. Congress needs to hold hearings to investigate the cause of the incident and come up with new policies to prevent future spills.

Of course, Congress is already investigating, as Andrew Restuccia of our sister site The Washington Independent reported Thursday. According to that report, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has sent requests to Enbridge and two government agencies — the EPA and the Department of Transportation — seeking a myriad of documents.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer, who represents the area of the spill, has announced hearings in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials on Sept. 15. He also said he intends to hold informal hearings in the district to hear from residents impacted by the oil spill, which dumped an estimated one million gallons of crude oil into Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River. The spill is the largest in the history of the Midwest.

Schauer has also said Enbridge violated federal regulations related to reporting the spill when it waited two “critical” hours before reporting the incident. The company denies this allegation.