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Enbridge Warned of Corrosion in Michigan Pipeline Weeks Before Spill
CALGARY - Enbridge Inc. faces a growing public relations nightmare around an oil spill in a Michigan river amid reports the pipeline company knew of corrosion on the ruptured line weeks before the incident.
Canada geese covered in oil sit along the Kalamazoo River after a pipeline ruptured in Marshall, Michigan, on Tuesday, July 27, 2010. (Photograph: Andre J. Jackson, Detroit Free Press/MCT) The Calgary-based company, under fire for a 3.3 million litre crude oil spill into the lush Kalamazoo River, admitted Thursday the aging Line 6B had been subject to more than 100 repairs during the past year.
But the ruptured pipe near the town of Marshall had not been tagged as a hot spot in Enbridge's maintenance plan.
"This was not an area identified for replacement," said Steve Wuori, executive vice-president, liquids pipelines.
Speaking from the "unified command centre" in Battle River, Mich., Wuori said a complete in-line inspection had been made on line that runs between Griffith, Ind., to Sarnia, Ont., in 2009 resulting in 139 "digs" on the system to date this year.
According to a letter from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Enbridge Energy Partners - the Houston-based subsidiary operating the 190,000 barrel per day line - informed the department earlier in July the 41-year-old pipe likely was corroded and need replacing.
Weeks later, on July 26, a section of the underground pipeline burst spewing at least 19,500 barrels of crude into a creek that flows into the Kalamazoo River, which in turn empties into Lake Michigan.
By Thursday more than 50 families had been evacuated from homes close to the contaminated river because of elevated benzine levels in the air, Michigan health officials said.
"I will tell you that at the beginning of this we were more focused on the short-term numbers," said Jim Rutherford, health official with Calhoun County. "The numbers we are now looking at are long-term exposure numbers, so we have identified as a result an area that we need to evacuate."
Another 200 homes along the tainted river have been told to avoid drinking well water in favour of bottled water - supplied by Enbridge - as a precautionary measure.
In a new development, Enbridge revealed the underground pipeline, part of its Lakehead system, had been shut down for routine maintenance for 10 hours on Sunday, then restarted Monday morning when the leak was discovered. The pipeline company had previously been told by federal agents to reduce in-line pressure along other portions of its network.
Enbridge is no stranger to spills along its vast network of pipelines which flow the bulk of Canadian oil exports to terminals and refineries in the United States.
According to the transportation department, Enbridge has spilled about 1.5 million litres of oil since 2002, roughly half the amount released in a matter of hours before the Michigan leak was contained.
Beleaguered chief executive Pat Daniel apologized again to the public Thursday for "the mess that we have made."
"We take full responsibilities for the cleanup and will be here until you are happy in this community and this county that we have completed our responsibilities," he said, from Battle Creek, where he has been overseeing operations. "We still have a huge job in front of us, there's no doubt about that."
Approximately 1,000 barrels of oil have been recovered from the site. Daniel was vague about when the line would come back into service, but kept to sooner rather than later, despite evidence repair and recovery operations would drag out longer than the "days rather than weeks" originally mentioned
Swampy ground and high water levels have delayed operations to dig up the ruptured length of pipe, required for failure analysis, for days although Enbridge estimated it would be accessing the pipe Thursday.
"It's too early to say exactly how long it will take (to clean up), but it will be more than just a few days," said Ralph Dollhopf, on-scene U.S. Environmental Protection Agency co-ordinator.
On Wednesday the U.S. Department of Transportation directed the company to complete a comprehensive safety assessment on the line before reopening it to service.
Enbridge will submit the ruptured pipe to a national board for testing. Based on the failure analysis, the company then will develop and implement a work plan covering factors noted in the report.
The line will then be allowed to restart, subject to a 20 per cent pressure reduction in operating pressure as a safety precaution.
The order by the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration will mean Enbridge will not be shipping oil on the line "anytime soon," according to March Schauer, Michigan State democratic congressman.
Schauer has pushed for stiffer penalties around oil spills.
Officials from local, state and federal agencies have joined forces in Marshall, Mich., to centralize cleanup operations which include crews in charge of booms, sweeps, water vacuums and wildlife rescue operations.
All were careful to mention Enbridge would be shouldering the full costs of the efforts, from paying for additional crews to reimbursing $2 million U.S. in emergency funding. As well, the company likely will face numerous environmental fines on local, municipal and federal levels.
Enbridge would not comment on how much the incident would cost other than to say it would "spend what ever is needed."
Reports that the 40-kilometre oil slick had breached booms around Morrow Lake, considered a last line of defence before emptying into Lake Michigan, were dispelled by both Enbridge and the EPA.
"We have flown over it, we've had boats on it, we have had scientific instruments in those boats and we could not detect the presence of oil in the lake," Dollhopf said.
17 Comments so far
Show AllEnbridge is the firm that is pushing to build a pipeline form the Athabasca Tarsands to the west cost of British Columbia wherein it would terminate at the Port of Prince Rupert.
Oil tankers would then load that oil and ship it to China.
This pipeline would cross some 1000 streams and rivers including some of the most beautiful rivers in the country. It would run through Northern British Columbia through areas that have to this point avoided most of the ravages of man.
Enviromentalists and the First Nations peoples have lobbied against it warning of the dangers of such a spill. Enbridge has insisted such a pipeline would be safe and no threat to the enviroment.
It is nice to have detailed news finally of what they are doing. I notice however, after complaining about the quality of the news on this environmental devastation in Michigan, that this documentation comes out of Canada. I haven't seen another panned video on tv yet, but I didn't like the first one where just three guys were standing around on a one mile stretch of crude- with no visible authority like the DNR or DEQ on the scene- much less the Feds.
Oil is dangerous to life. Lake Michigan is especially sacred as are all of our fresh waters. Only FOOLS will seek to damage themselves and their living environment and we should not and will not tolerate such ignorance of life. Regulate the hell out of them.
Oil is Bad, and dirty, and running out...we must go green ! Hell even the Oil is telling us that , how many accidents have there been in just the last six months...Dozens.
If we were blessed with good honest leaders, we would not even be on oil much, except for building materials and stuff. We would not be heating our houses, or driving our cars, the way we are now. We are beeing lead like SHEEP by Criminals in Suits !
Yes, yes and yes.
Joe
Oil is Bad, and dirty, and running out...we must go green ! Hell even the Oil is telling us that , how many accidents have there been in just the last six months...Dozens.
If we were blessed with good honest leaders, we would not even be on oil much, except for building materials and stuff. We would not be heating our houses, or driving our cars, the way we are now. We are being lead like SHEEP by Criminals in Suits !
Oil is Bad, and dirty, and running out...we must go green ! Hell even the Oil is telling us that , how many accidents have there been in just the last six months...Dozens.
If we were blessed with good honest leaders, we would not even be on oil much, except for building materials and stuff. We would not be heating our houses, or driving our cars, the way we are now. We are being lead like SHEEP by Criminals in Suits !
Just what in the hell is team o or congress doing with all these oil leaks and spills? Just sitting on the collective asses and waiting for 'clear cut' instructions from the oil companies themselves? Wouldn't do to have a government agency assigned to start investigating and checking the infrastructure of any oil dealing and wielding companies, NO of course, anyone doing so is or would soon be brought into the control of the 'big oil'.
And apparently, with enough money of course, all big oil has to do is say it is safe and of no threat to the environment as there 'protection and safeguard system' which is a so much cheaper way to bigger profits because the people will pay for the damage WHEN it occurs. These 'get rich quick' criminals haven't a clue about how to properly handle natural resources and yet they always have the final say in what regulations and actions that need to be done to them.
Team O and Congress serve the oil companies, not us.
Nothing will be fixed unless the initiative comes from us, the people whose world is being destroyed in place after place by war, corruption and corporate greed. It's sad to say I tell the truth.
Joe
It saddens me more than frightens me to know or see how that will happen as bad as it needs to happen.
"Penny-wise and pound-foolish." This ancient proverb would seem to apply to both British Petroleum and Enbridge Inc. They seem to want to save a little money on maintenance and disaster prevention and end trashing part of the planet. The real problem is that greedy capitalist corporations have no soul, they have no sense that the earth they live on is rather precious and that it should be protected, even a the cost of some potential profits...
Here's an area where we need to create change: the policy of citizens being provided drinking water in the form of bottled water during periods of contamination. The problem is that it is more dangerous to BATHE in contaminated water.
The government offers people drinking water while failing to warn or protect them from the negative health effects of washing in contaminated water. This is grossly negligent.
Additionally, someone asked where Congress was during these accidents. Part of the problem is ineptness on the part of administrators- even when we have good laws on the books, if they aren't being properly enforced and administered, we are at risk of disasters.
Presume that "Battle River" should be "Battle Creek".
yes, battle creek, home of breakfast cereals.
an ounce of prevention trumps a pound of cleanup.
further prevention would be manufacturing wind turbines and solar panels; investing in a modern power grid; setting up the highway support infrastructure for plug-in electric cars the way california had a decade ago; and creating a mass transit system. also, construction of zero energy buildings would help.
for peace and sustainability
It's the same old theme, corruption leading to disaster. Business is corrupt, government is corrupt, and the people are corrupt. Does anyone think disasters can be avoided? The depth of corruption seems so comprehensive. Today, an honest man or woman is an increasingly rare exception. They are like small seeds that carry honesty in their dna, awaiting a world where conditions allow honesty to thrive. It's not likely in this world.
Check this out on the Michigan website-WARNING- the video of the oil on the river from the plane will break your heart.
http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7-192-39745_40885_56784---,00.html
..and really piss you off that this could happen!
FOOLS!
FOOLS!
At least there is mobilization now at the MI website. If there were only REGULATION AND ENFORCEMENT-lets see what all those legislators do now.
Sickening and sad.
Oh, still waiting to hear from wannabe AG Mike Cox (R) running for governor, that he is all over this.
Enbridge has been bombarding my community with propaganda over the last year or so, in an attempt to build support for the pipeline they want to stretch across our province. Totally safe, reliable, a boon to the area thanks to all the jobs it will create in our resource dependent area that has recently been devestated due to beetle kill. Of course the first nations groups knew it was bullshit from the beginning, as did any other concerned citizen. The guarantees of these companies mean nothing! Can they guarantee that their equipment will run 100% every day? No. Can they guarantee that the environment will perform in the way they need it to, everyday? No. Can they guarantee that their staff will come to work everyday alert and able? No. Can they guarantee that they will do everything they can to produce profit for their shareholders? Yes. That guarantee means everything else they say is bullshit!
"It's too early to say exactly how long it will take (to clean up), but it will be more than just a few days," said Ralph Dollhopf, on-scene U.S. Environmental Protection Agency co-ordinator.
No shit, sherlock. It sure had better be.