Enbridge Severely Criticized in 2010 Michigan Spill

Enbridge oil spill | BCBusiness
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board gave Calgary-based Enbridge a verbal lashing for its response to a 2010 oil spill in Michigan.

U.S. government agency member likens company’s management of Kalamazoo River oil spill to “Keystone Kops.”

The chairman of a U.S. government agency condemned Enbridge Tuesday, essentially calling the company incompetent in its handling of a massive bitumen spill in 2010.
 
The pipeline, operated by Enbridge, leaked just under a million gallons of bitumen into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan in 2010, and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the company’s response.
 
In response to the agency’s report, chairman Debbie Hersman likened the company’s handling of the spill to the bumbling “Keystone Kops” due to Enbridge’s sluggish reaction.
 
Enbridge didn’t take direct action to curtail the spill until 17 hours after the initial alarm and Hersman noted the company had known since 2004 that the pipeline was partially corroded.
 
Thus far, the incident has caused around $800 million in damages, which is five times the previous record for cleanup costs in the U.S. The NTSB also slapped Enbridge with a proposed $3.7 million fine.
 
Hersman (and many others, I assume) also pondered aloud the inevitability of future spills. And the agency’s findings don’t bode well as Enbridge attempts to push through its proposed Northern Gateway pipeline here in B.C.