TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Michigan sought a pledge Friday from Enbridge Inc. to cover costs that would arise if oil were to leak from its dual pipelines that extend across a channel linking two of the Great Lakes. The issue has a simple solution, he said. If you are Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that “180,000 gallons of Line 6B oil (plus or minus 100,000 gallons) remain in the river bottom sediment.” They have ordered Enbridge to dig up the rest of the recoverable oil (“about 12,000 – 18,000 gallons”) and finish cleaning up altogether by December 31st, 2013, leaving the remaining oil behind to collect over time in “sediment traps.” Enbridge has applied for their deadline to be pushed back until March 2014, but their application was deniedafter several earlier extensions were granted. It’s the right thing to do. I asked Graham White, an Enbridge spokesperson, if these allegations were true. Those efforts are ongoing, years after the spill occurred. Photos courtesy of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. Whitmer Campaigns for Biden-Harris in West Michigan, Traverse City Neighborhood Revamps Halloween, Amazing Northern Michigan Homes: Deepwater Point, Chippewa Co. Deputies Need Help Finding Wanted Kincheloe Man, Nessel, Benson Clear-Up Voting Misconceptions, Group Discovers 10,000 Year Old Archaeological Find in Straits of Mackinac, Latest Updates: Possible COVID-19 Exposure Sites in Northern Michigan, 3 Schools Closed, 1 Moved to Remote Learning Due to COVID-19 Cases, Local COVID-19 Testing Events Halted After Michigan National Guard Members Test Positive, Wexford Co. But both of these notices were issued when the Kalamazoo was open to the public. All rights reserved. After a day of speaking to people at the “head office” and “the most senior level” of the company, as well as the department that “was at the scene and coordinated the emergency response and remediation aspects of the entire response from the Kalamazoo spill,” Graham White called me with the company’s final answer: “I can say now, with a very high level of confidence after speaking to all those people, that we used no chemicals including dispersants, bioremediation agents, surface washing agents, surfactants, or washing agents of any kind in any part of the clean-up and in fact made a conscious decision not to use any chemicals on the site in the clean-up whatsoever.”, But trudging through the woods, near the Talmadge Creek site where the spill originated, Craig Ritter made a second unlikely discovery after he pulled some weathered documents out of the mud, which directly contradict Enbridge’s story. “Since we already have an agreement with the State of Michigan to provide these assurances, if the State would like to sit down and discuss our financial assurances, we would be happy to do so and we made that offer in our response to Director Eichinger,” Duffy said. As a result of his repeated explorations of the Kalamazoo, he found himself occasionally “followed around by personnel vehicles,” and noticed “cars pulled up, and kind of eyeballing, if not having a camera out and taking pictures of me” when he lingered in sections of the river that had already been re-opened for public use. Of everyone I spoke to, nobody has any idea what that was, they just know it wasn’t us. Enbridge gave a similar statement on the matter to what it sent out last week when asked about the agreement. © 2020 www.detroitnews.com. © 2020 Advance Local Media LLC. Spokesman Ryan Duffy said Enbridge was reviewing the Eichenger letter. Help fund crucial watchdog journalism. An oil spill cleanup worker is suing his former employer, S.E.T. Put dirt over the top of it,” he added. Activists fear a similar spill from Line 5 in the Straits, where the 66-year-old dual span transports up to 540,000 barrels per day of light crude oil and natural gas liquids. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Faced with a financially devastating cleanup, without such a protection in the worst case Enbridge could just declare bankruptcy. Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission. “It would have to be used in the river to treat the oil in the same manner as they did in the BP oil spill,” he said. It was the largest on-land oil spill in the history of the USA, and remains, so far, as the largest spill of tar sands oil … One report urged Dane County, Wisconsin, to require Enbridge to get specific environmental insurance for a pump station, a recommendation that was not followed after the state legislature passed a law banning counties from making such a requirement. It is second only to a 1991 oil spill in Grand Rapids, Minn., which also was caused by an Enbridge-owned pipeline. Damage to Enbridge's Line 5 oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac that was reported to Michigan officials on June 18. Copyright © 2007-2020. Crash with Semi Kills Driver of Pickup Truck, Pinconning Woman Arrested for Arson in Mackinaw City. It’s been three and a half years since Enbridge’s Line 6B pipeline ruptured in Marshall, Michigan, leaking more than 843,000 gallons of diluted tar sands bitumen into the Kalamazoo River. Exxon Valdez, 25 years ago, you can still go and dig up oil. “We are required by law to cover the costs of clean up and respond, but beyond that we would do that because it’s the right thing to do,” Duffy said. Whistleblower John Bolenbaugh says he has experienced a backlash after showing the media in 2010 how he and other cleanup workers were ordered to hide much of the oil to meet a deadline. That’s not something that we would have done. Enbridge Energy rejects the accuracy of the report, noting that a recent agreement with the state requiring the $1.8 billion in coverage was required of the Enbridge entities owning and operating Line 5, “or the parent companies of such Enbridge entity(ies).”. I saw the skin lesions, hair loss… people have also been complaining of hemorrhoids,” Ott said. Enbridge Inc. will directly pledge its own assets for the remainder of the financial assurance requirements (to meet or exceed $1.878 billion, annually adjusted for inflation).
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