Marshall residents began to notice a smell creeping through the town. More than three hours after the rupture, a resident made the first call about the odor of gas, but dispatched firefighters were unable to locate the source.
By eleven the following morning, the odor was strong enough to give another caller a headache. Finally, an unrelated utility worker spotted oil pouring into the creek and notified Enbridge around a. The company closed the pipe at the site of the rupture. Before the spill, there had been warnings about the state of the 6B pipeline. However, other parts of the line did.
The year of the spill, the line had more than three hundred identified anomalies requiring repair. In fact, Enbridge had requested a two-year extension on repairs from the Department of Transportation just ten days before the spill. In , fewer than forty of the three hundred defects flagged for repair were corrected within a half-year deadline.
T he Ceresco Dam served as an ally to Enbridge during post-spill cleanup in Its structure forged a barrier solid enough to slow downstream flow of the oil, creating an upstream pond where oil could accumulate and be recovered. But this accumulation proved fatal to the dam itself. Each shore was then dredged, leaving behind tidy riverbanks. Floating booms and skimmers are typically used for the mitigation of crude oil spills, but the 6B spill required more.
Line 6B carried diluted bitumen, dilbit for short. Dilbit is a tar sands oil, a viscous petroleum reserve like asphalt. Mixing it with a gaseous petroleum source—in this case natural gas—allows for easier transport. Otherwise, the bitumen is too thick for moving with pipelines. The dilute used to make dilbit is full of gaseous molecules like benzene which, after the spill, evaporated into the surrounding air, causing health risks and forcing nearby residents to evacuate. June 21, The remainder of the river is re-opened to the public , with the exception of a 1,foot stretch near Morrow Lake in the Morrow Delta, which remains closed due to the need for continued remedial action.
July 10, The National Transportation Safety Review Board releases its final analysis, which notes that Enbridge and federal regulators missed numerous opportunities to prevent or lessen the impact of the oil spill. According to that report, the Canadian pipeline company knew five years before the pipeline ruptured that there were cracks in the section of pipeline that eventually failed. Federal regulators never fully reviewed or questioned the company on its spill response plan.
Hersman said at the time. March 14, Enbridge is ordered by the U. July 2, Enbridge is forced to halt cleanup work on Morrow Lake after Comstock Township officials request a site application for a dredge pad the company had set up in the area to allow for contaminated sediment to be dewatered before being hauled away to an approved landfill.
Township officials said Enbridge had selected the wrong site for the pad and didn't follow proper procedures to receive approval from the township. While a number of area residents and businesses express concern, Bell's Brewery owner Larry Bell -- who would later file a lawsuit against the company -- becomes a key figure in the debate over the dredge pad location, which he said he felt was being placed too close to his production facility within the township. The decision is eventually forwarded to the township's zoning board of appeals.
That request would later be denied, leading to Enbridge missing the deadline. Michigan Ave. June 4, A finalized public health assessment from MDCH concluded that no long-term harm to people's health is expected from contact with chemicals in the river's surface water during recreational activities such as wading, swimming, or canoeing.
A separate report in August concludes breathing air near the oil spill also caused no long-term health effects. All sections are now opened for public use. Terms include payments to people living within 1, feet of the river, donations to certain organizations that benefit the community or support recreation on the river, and a general fund to reimburse people who incurred expenses because of the July, oil spill.
With oversight from the MDEQ, Enbridge will continue to monitor the affected areas of the Kalamazoo River and its overbanks for visible or submerged oil. EPA held an expo and public meeting Nov. EPA issued a directive requiring Enbridge to take additional steps to clean up the oil spill. The EPA directive laid out a performance-based framework for assessing and recovering submerged oil in the river and cleaning up oil-contaminated river banks. EPA issued a letter to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality that outlined EPA's intent to transition the site to the state agency once the dredge work under the Order was completed.
Enbridge completed its remaining obligations under the EPA Order that directed specific sub-oil and sediment removal pursuant to EPA authority. The final portion of this work, the sediment removal by dredging at Morrow Lake and the Delta, was completed in October Upon completion of this dredging activity, and based on successful completion of the other work requirements of the Order, EPA determined that Enbridge had completed all of the prescribed actions. MDEQ is now the active site lead agency and is coordinating with the affected stakeholders.
Conry Davis. Amy Y. Conry Davis is a writer who specializes in green living, sustainability, and travel. She holds a B. Learn about our editorial process. Fact checked by Elizabeth MacLennan.
Fact checked by Elizabeth MacLennan on August 22, Elizabeth MacLennan is a fact checker and expert on climate change. Learn about our fact checking process. Share Twitter Pinterest Email. As many as 1, spill responders from federal, state, and local agencies, as well as Enbridge, were necessary to manage the spill. The spill was contained just 80 river miles from Lake Michigan.
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