Enbridge oil spill
| Talmadge Creek oil spill | |
|---|---|
| Location | Talmadge Creek and Kalamazoo River, Calhoun County, near Marshall, Michigan |
| Coordinates | 42°15′27″N 84°59′35″W / 42.25743°N 84.99307°WCoordinates: 42°15′27″N 84°59′35″W / 42.25743°N 84.99307°W |
| Date | July 26, 2010 |
| Cause | |
| Cause | Ruptured pipeline |
| Operator | Enbridge Energy |
| Spill characteristics | |
| Volume | 877,000 to 1,000,000 US gal (3,320 to 3,800 m3) |
| Shoreline impacted | ~25 mi (40 km) |
In July 2010, a six-foot break in a pipeline crossing Talmadge Creek, a tributary of the Kalamazoo (MI) River, resulted in the largest on-land oil spill, and one of the costliest oil spills, in the nation's history. The pipeline carried bituminous sands oil from Canada into the United States in a diluted bitumen (dilbit) formulation which separated upon spilling. The light dilution fluids evaporated, leaving the heavy oil to sink in water.
Contents |
The spill[edit]
On the evening of Sunday, July 25 2010, at about 5:58 p.m. EDT, a 40-foot long pipe segment in Line 6B, located approximately 0.6 of a miles downstream of the Marshall, Michigan pump station, ruptured.[1] The rupture in the Enbridge Energy pipeline caused a 877,000 US gallons (3,320 m3) spill of bituminous sands also called tar sands or heavy crude oil originating from Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan) into Talmadge Creek in Calhoun County, Michigan, which flows into the Kalamazoo River. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) later estimated the spill to be in excess of 1 million US gallons (3,800 m3)[clarification needed].[2] On 29 July 2010, the Calhoun County Health Department asked 30 to 50 households to evacuate, and twice as many were advised not to drink their water.[3]
Though alarms sounded in Enbridge's Edmonton headquarters at the time of the rupture, it was eighteen hours before a Michigan utilities employee reported oil spilling and the pipeline company learned of the spill. Meanwhile, pipeline operators had thought the alarms were maybe caused by a bubble in the pipeline and, while for some time it was shut down, they also increased pressure for periods of hours to try to clear the possible blockage, spilling more oil.[4] The oil was contained to a 25-mile (40 km) stretch of the Kalamazoo River as several hundred workers took part in the cleanup.[5] Regional EPA Director Susan Hedman estimated that it would take weeks to remove the bulk of the oil from the river, several months to clear oil from the flood plains, and several more months to clean the oil out of the marsh where the spill originated. However, a year later, a 35 mile stretch of the river remained closed.[6] Originally estimated at $5 million,[7] by September 2011, cleanup costs passed $585 million and were expected to rise by 20 percent more.[6] The cleanup expense by summer 2012 had totalled $765 million.[4]
Aftermath[edit]
In June, 2012, authorities reopened most of the 35 miles of the river that had been closed to recreation after the spill. Part of the river at the Morrow Lake delta remained closed and other sections of the river remain restricted because of the ongoing cleanup of the bituminous sands oil product called diluted bitumen (dilbit) oil the pipeline had been transporting.[8]
The United States Department of Transportation summer 2012 "fined Enbridge $3.7 million dollars and as part of that fine they listed 22 probable violations that happened relating to the spill. And several of those [violations] are about what happened in the [Edmonton] control room".[4]
One of the reasons for the vast escalation in time and expense of cleanup was that the EPA had never handled a dilbit spill. In addition, it is reported that Enbridge never informed the EPA of the product distinction. Unlike conventional crude, dilbit floats briefly in water but then sinks, causing a much more difficult cleanup particularly if dredging is considered too ecologically damaging.[4]
This disaster was the largest on-land spill in American history to date.[9]
In 2012, NTSB chair Deborah Hersman likened "Enbridge's poor handling" of the spill to the Keystone Kops, asking: "Why didn't they recognize what was happening, and what took so long?" NPR reported that "NTSB investigators determined that the six-foot gash in the pipe was caused by a flaw in the outside lining which allowed the pipe to crack and corrode. Now, in 2005, Enbridge actually had learned that this section of pipe was cracked and corroding. ... That same 2005 internal report pointed to 15,000 defects in the 40-year-old pipeline. And Enbridge decided not to dig up this [Talmadge Creek] area to inspect it."[10]
In 2013, in opining on the Keystone XL pipeline proposal, the EPA recommended to the State Department that pipelines that carry bituminous sands oil should no longer be treated just like pipelines that carry any other oil. Stephen Hamilton, an ecology professor at Michigan State University and the independent science adviser at Talmadge Creek, detailed the challenges and expense of the still-ongoing Michigan cleanup.[2][11]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Crude Oil Pipeline Rupture and Spill". Monday, 26 July 2010. Retrieved 19 Oct 2012.
- ^ a b EPA (Tuesday, 27 July 2010). "EPA Response to Enbridge Spill in Michigan". United States Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
- ^ Lambert, Sarah (Friday, 30 July 2010). "Air quality spurs evacuations in oil spill area". The Battle Creek Enquirer. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Kalamazoo River Spill Yields Record Fine", Living on Earth, July 6, 2012. Lisa Song, a reporter for Inside Climate News, interviewed by Bruce Gellerman. Retrieved 2013-01-01.
- ^ The Associated Press (Sunday, 1 August 2010). "EPA notes improvements at Michigan oil spill site". Google News. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
- ^ a b Johnson, Kirk and Dan Frosch. "Rancor Grows Over Planned Oil Pipeline From Canada" New York Times. September 28, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
- ^ Wood, Michael (Sunday, 1 August 2010). "Enbridge spill clean-up will take months". The Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
- ^ Lawrence, E., (June 21,2012). Most of Kalamazoo River now open following July 2010 Enbridge oil spill. Detroit Free Press.
- ^ "The Arkansas Pipeline Leak Is Another Tar Sands Red Flag", The Atlantic, April 1, 2013.
- ^ Shogren, Elizabeth, "Firm blamed in the costliest onshore oil spill ever" (transcript), NPR, July 10, 2012. Retrieved 2013-04-24.
- ^ Shogren, Elizabeth, "EPA: Tar Sands Pipelines Should Be Held To Different Standards", NPR, April 24, 2013. Link to EPA letter to State Department. Retrieved 2013-04-24.
