Enbridge Dumps Nearly Million Gallons of Crude Fined $3.7 Million

B. McPherson

The oil spill into the Kalamazoo River in 2010 left much of the river dead, wetlands ruined and people sick. The clean up which is ongoing cost nearly $1 billion. Federal regulators in the US have slapped Enbridge with a $3.7 million fine for their part in the mess.

You do the math. People have been sickened, a river system is still not healthy and some areas are still not open to the public two years later. The clean up so far has cost the state of Michigan nearly $1 billion in money it doesn’t have and health issues are not being met in many cases.

Some of the early clean up efforts seemed more like cover ups than anything else. A concerned citizen exposed the dumping of clean, white sand over oil saturated soil in Talmadge Creek. He also exposed the coverup of oil saturated wetlands – literally covering the area in floating mats and planting on their surfaces to hide the pollution beneath. The list goes on. This man has been harassed for his efforts to the extent of receiving death threats for uncovering the mess that the burst pipeline has made.

The chair of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has been widely quoted.

"Learning about Enbridge's poor handling of the rupture, you can't help but think of the Keystone Kops," said NTSB chair Deborah Hersman, referring to the incompetent policemen in silent films. Montreal Gazette

The following film is quite lengthy, but it serves as a practical lesson as to what to expect if Enbridge is allowed to force its Northern Gateway pipeline through the Great Bear Rainforest.

"This should be the last warning signal we need that Enbridge cannot be trusted to build a tar sands pipeline through the largest intact temperate rainforest left on the planet," said Greenpeace campaigner Mike Hudema." Montreal Gazette

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