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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (82352)	7/28/2010 2:35:32 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Efforts Doubled to Clean Up Michigan Oil Spill online.wsj.com By MATTHEW DOLAN The Wall Street Journal JULY 28, 2010, 1:47 P.M. ET BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — An oil spill from an underground pipeline connecting the U.S. to Canada has spread across roughly 20 miles of the Kalamazoo River in south-central Michigan, prompting the pipe's Canadian owner and U.S. officials on Wednesday to double their resources to contain and clean up more than 800,000 gallons of seeped-out crude. The spill with an estimated volume of 19,500 barrels of oil is believed to be one of the largest in the history of the Midwest, but unlike the BP PLC oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico, this spill was capped relatively quickly after its owners were able to shut down the line almost immediately after its discovery. The pipe rupture has already forced the evacuation of several dozen residents who live near the Kalamazoo River, forced the river's closure to the public and raised questions about whether the pipeline's owner reported the spill in a timely way. The line owned by Enbridge Energy Partners LP is a 30-inch pipe that moves light synthetic, heavy and medium crude oil northeast about 1,900 miles from Griffith, Ind. through Michigan and just over the border to Sarnia, Ontario. After the leak was discovered on Monday morning near the company's pump station in Marshall, Mich., the pipeline was shut down and its isolation valves closed off, according to officials at the parent company, Enbridge Inc. of Calgary, Alberta. But some media reports said local residents first reported strong odors near the spill site in emergency calls as early as Sunday. Federal officials said Wednesday that the timeline involved in the spill remains under investigation by several agencies. Officials said it would be weeks before an official cause of the pipe break is determined. Feedback from the initial portions of the investigation in the next few days are expected to provide telling clues about the origins of the leak, company officials said. Patrick Daniel, Enbridge's chief executive, told reporters in a news conference Wednesday morning that his company is doubling its 150-person work force in Michigan and will increase the size of oil-corraling booms to about 31,000 feet from its current 14,000 Wednesday. The company has as much as 45,000 feet worth of boom on-hand. "Our intention is to return your communities" to its state before the pill," Mr. Daniel said Wednesday, who has previously apologized for the spill. "We still have a lot of work to do." The company now plans to unearth the pipeline at the breakpoint near Marshall, Mich., in an effort to determine the cause of the rupture, repair the line and restore the oil flow in coming days, according to Enbridge officials. In previously scheduled quarterly earnings, Enbridge reported net income of 138 million Canadian dollars, down 65% from a year-earlier period on market-to-market losses on current exchange compared to the year-earlier quarterly gain. State and federal officials said they are attempting to stop the penetration of the oil down the river before it reaches a nearby lake, worried as well about the threat of predicted thunderstorm on the river's already swollen levels. Mr. Daniel said he met Tuesday with Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who took an aerial tour of the affected site and called Enbridge's initial clean-up response "anemic." He told reporters Wednesday that he and the governor had a frank conversation and that Enbridge remains committed to do everything it can to contain the spill and clean-up the recovered oil. Ralph Dollhopf, the on-scene coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency which is leading the government's efforts, said that the spill does not yet appear to have fouled air quality or groundwater to levels considered dangerous. Local health officials said they will continue to monitor air and water quality, reminding local residents that large swaths of the river remained closed to all public activity. Concerned residents as well as volunteers willing to help with the spill response can call 1-800-306-6837 or visit response.enbridgeus.com for more information. Write to Matthew Dolan at matthew.dolan@wsj.com