So it’s been a while since we’ve heard about the Michigan oil spill but Federal investigators are expected to present their findings on the likely cause of a pipeline rupture that spilled more than 800,000 gallons of crude oil into a southwestern Michigan river back in 2010.
Not long after the Louisiana oil geyser, Kalamazoo County declared a state of emergency because of the spill that had started in a creek and made it’s way into the Kalamazoo river.
The panel of the National Transportation Safety Board will hear the conclusions of the investigators some time today, expectantly and they will decide whether to reject or modify them before issuing a final report with recommendations on how to improve the pipeline.
If you remember the new from July, 2010 the leak started near Marshall (almost 60 miles east of Grand Rapids) into the Talmadge Creek, and it covered about 35 miles of the Kalamazoo River, becoming a major disaster for the wildlife habitat.
The cleanup continues to this day under the supervision of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and costs are already estimated over $700 million. The pipeline is owned by Enbridge Inc., a Canadian company.
Last month a 34-miles section of the river was opened making all of the river open, with exception to a quarter-mile of the delta between Morrow Lake and the river.
Stay tuned for more updates. As new comes, I will update this post as soon as news is available.
UPDATE: Federal investigators say a Canadian company’s neglect of cracks in one of its oil pipelines and slow response to a 2010 rupture in southwestern Michigan caused the most expensive onshore spill in U.S. history. (Fox News)
