TODD SPANGLER, Detroit Free Press, August 25, 2010
WASHINGTON – A pipeline that spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River late last month has a dent in a section that runs under the St. Clair River where it crosses from southeastern Michigan into Canada, a Michigan congresswoman revealed today.
Officials with Enrbidge Energy Partners, the Canadian-based company that owns the pipeline, told U.S. Rep. Candice Miller of the dent in the line in her district in a letter last Friday.
Miller, a Harrison Township Republican, on Wednesday called for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to expand the scope of its Sept. 15 hearing beyond looking into the pipeline rupture that occurred last month near Marshall in mid-Michigan, saying the Enbridge letter indicated the company “has not yet developed a long-term remediation plan” for the section of Line 6B crossing beneath the St. Clair River because of difficulties in accessing the site.
In the letter to Miller, Enbridge official Steve Wuori assured the congresswoman that once the dent was found in the pipeline under the river, the company reduced pressure in the line and took other measures to make sure it was safe to operate until it can be fixed or replaced. Enbridge had earlier notified federal officials of hundreds of anomalies found in Line 6B through testing, though all were east of the spill site in mid-Michigan.
Miller – in a letter to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar – said while Enbridge assured her the dented pipeline was being “handled appropriately,” she believes Congress must provide “sufficient oversight so that Enrbidge and the (federal) regulators understand that we will not accept a tragic incident under the St. Clair River.”
“There are multiple water intake pipes along the St. Clair River that provide the drinking water for millions in Southeast Michigan. The river also flows into Lake St. Clair and on to the Detroit River and Lake Erie. An accident similar to the event that occurred in Marshall would be simply catastrophic to our region,” she said.
Enbridge’s community relations director for eastern Canada, Ken Hall – who is also a director of the nonprofit Friends of the St. Clair River – said the dent is a “minor” one and should be of no cause for immediate concern, especially since the entire line is being looked at in the wake of the Marshall spill. Another official, Enbridge spokeswoman Gina Jordan, said the company’s assessment of the dent concluded there is no more than “a remote chance of a leak” and to reduce that further pressure was lowered in the line before it was shut down entirely following the spill late last month.
In an interview with the Free Press, Miller said she was not trying to be an “alarmist” and merely wants to know that the pipeline at Marysville on the St. Clair River is safe and that the dent below the river is being addressed in a prompt manner. She added that it was unacceptable that Enbridge had asked government regulators just weeks before the Marshall spill for permission to run Line 6B at a lower-than-usual pressure for up to 2 ½ years while it repaired or replaced sections of the line where metal loss anomalies were found.
While Miller said she doesn’t believe there is any “imminent danger” from the dent and that Enbridge has been forthcoming with her, she questioned, “Why isn’t there any sense of urgency about this?” on the part of the company or federal regulators.
As a member of the House committee, she plans to bring it up herself when it holds its hearing on the spill on Sept. 15.
“Given what we know of Enbridge’s record of violations over the last decade and what happened in (the) Kalamazoo (River), I would think we wouldn’t be sending any oil of any kind through that pipeline until regulators and the public are sure it’s absolutely safe,” said Hugh McDiarmid Jr., communications director for the Michigan Environmental Council.
