Enbridge Energy Partners, a Canadian crude oil and liquid pipeline company, has leaked what may be over one million gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan, causing the evacuation of several people along the river.
The leak of the 30-inch wide pipeline was reported Monday, and officials are unsure as to why the spill occurred. The spill erupted in Enbridge's 1,900-mile Lakehead Pipeline system, which was carrying oil from Chicago to the refineries in Sarnia, Ontario. The oil was spilled into Talmadge Creek, which lead to the Kalamazoo River, and is now heading toward the Great Lakes -- Lake Michigan, to be exact.
While several figures are swirling around regarding exactly how much oil has leaked into the river, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that they believe
over one million gallons has spilled, despite earlier estimates of 800,000 gallons by Enbridge Energy Partners.
The EPA has contacted the Coast Guard and asked that they make $2 million available to the response of this oil spill, and it has also planned to move in more vessels to help out. In addition, Enbridge Energy Partners closed the pipeline off and has provided skimmers, doubled the amount of boom to "more than 28,000 feet" and also doubled the number of workers participating in the response to "more than 300."
"EPA and other federal and state agencies mobilized immediately in
response to this spill and have taken a series of steps to minimize the damage this spill does to the river and surrounding communities," said Lisa Jackson, EPA Administrator.
Despite this amount of response, Gov. Jennifer Granholm has called the response effort
"anemic" and "wholly inadequate" after touring the area by helicopter and meeting with state and federal officials.
Oil-soaked birds and fish, which have become familiar images that the world has seen after
BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf Of Mexico, are lining and submerged in the now oily river. The Michigan Department of Agriculture is sending the State Animal Response Team to help these animals, and is advising all citizens surrounding the river not to drink from it, swim in it or eat fish from it.
The EPA has set out to investigate "the timeline of events" that occurred around the time of the spill to see what may have caused it, and to also see when it started, since many are doubting that it only began Monday. One of the skeptics is Rep. Mark Schauer (D-Mich.) who noted that he was angry that it took Enbridge so long to report the leak on Monday. He also said that he "fears" the leak really began early Sunday and Enbridge did not give accurate figures as to how much oil had leaked.
Now, recent reports say this whole fiasco could have been prevented. Enbridge
was notified twice this year of old, unreliable pipes that are prone to corrosion and rupturing. They received the government notices earlier this year, and it isn't clear whether this is what caused the spill by Enbridge.
