U.S. agency to rule on oil spill in Michigan
OTTAWA — An independent U.S. agency will rule Tuesday on the “probable” cause of a massive bitumen crude spill in Michigan in 2010 involving a pipeline owned by Calgary-based Enbridge Inc., the proponent of the Northern Gateway oilsands pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will also propose safety recommendations stemming from the spill near the municipality of Marshall, Mich., which has caused an estimated $767 million in damage and prompted, earlier this month, a proposed $3.7 million fine from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Enbridge has said the rupture resulted in the release of 843,444 gallons of diluted bitumen crude, though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says on its website that 1,148,230 gallons of oil has already been collected in and near Michigan’s Kalamazoo River.
The incident has fired up international opposition to two major Canadian oilsands pipeline projects — Enbridge’s Northern Gateway proposal from Alberta to Kitimat, B.C. and TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL project to the U.S. Gulf Coast that has been delayed by U.S. President Barack Obama.
Significant attention has focused on the “human error” aspect of the 2010 spill, since the company didn’t start taking action until 17 hours after the first alarm warned of problems in Michigan.
The crude was released in a wetland area near Marshall, Michigan, a “high consequence area within a mostly rural, wet and lowlying region,” according to the NTSB.
“The released oil pooled into a marshy area over the rupture site before flowing 700 feet south into Talmadge Creek, which ultimately carried it into the Kalamazoo River.”