MARSHALL (WKZO-AM) — The U.S. Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency has levied a $61 million fine against Canadian-based Enbridge Energy for the 2010 spill near Marshall that dumped 800,000 gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River.
The announcement was made at Saylor’s Landing, one of the river access points that was constructed by Enbridge as part of the clean-up agreement.
With the river as the backdrop, Assistant Attorney General John Cruden announced the settlement, which also includes 165 pages of improvements the company will be required to make. One of those projects will be the complete replacement of Line 3, a 300-mile long pipeline that runs through Minnesota and Wisconsin to refineries near Chicago.
Cruden said only the Deep Water Horizon spill, which contaminated the Gulf of Mexico, generated a larger fine than the one levied against Enbridge. He says the penalty was meant to send a message to encourage pipeline companies to take necessary safety steps.
Enbridge will also be required to upgrade monitoring and other equipment to ensure similar spills do not happen again. The money is to be spread over Enbridge’s lakehead pipeline system, which spans 2,000 miles and crosses seven states. Enbridge Energy estimates all that will cost around $110 million.
They have also been asked to hand over $5 million to reimburse governmental agencies that spent money to monitor or facilitate the cleanup.
Line 6B’s rupture sent roughly 800,000 gallons of crude into the river. It was one of the worst inland oil spills in American history.
The company was already on the hook to pay $75 million to the state of Michigan and has already spent $1.2 billion on the clean up, even though a good portion of that was covered by their insurance.
The agreement is the result of negotiations with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and while Enbridge was not required to admit any liability or neglect, the U.S. Government is certainly claiming that a number of corporate failures, which were on display in Calhoun County and at the monitoring station in Canada, were responsible for the spill.
They also claimed employees made it worse by ignoring warning alarms.
Enbridge Vice President Brad Shamla said the spill has already greatly altered the corporate culture at the firm and they have voluntarily made a number of improvements throughout their system to prevent future spills.
The Marshall spill has sparked broad based concern that Line 5, which travels under the Straits of Mackinac, may threaten the upper Great Lakes. It was installed about the same time as Line 6B.
Two independent firms have been hired to analyze the safety of the 63-year-old dual pipeline and whether there are alternatives that would be safer, and economical.
– Anthony Pollreisz contributed to this story.
