Another $1 million in penalties is for a pipeline rupture two months later in IL that sent oil into tributaries of the Des Plaines River.
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Enbridge Energy Partners has reached a $176 million settlement for the costliest inland oil spill in USA history a pipeline rupture in southwestern MI that polluted a almost 40-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River, federal officials said Wednesday.
Enbridge says the settlement also includes a commitment to spend $110 million to improve equipment, training and overall response abilities on its pipeline system.
Six years in the making, the agreement announced Wednesday represents a closing chapter for the largest inland oil spill in USA history and includes more than $60 million in penalty fees for the event. They will also be paying $5.4 million in non-reimbursed costs that were paid by the government to cleanup the Marshall spill, they will also pay any costs that occur from that spill in the future.
Enbridge did not shut down its ruptured pipeline nor did it disclose the ongoing spill for 17 hours, according to a 2012 report by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Enbridge must install pipeline supports, conduct a pipeline movement study, and make quarterly inspections using acoustic leak detection technology under the terms of the consent agreement.
Enbridge estimates the cost of the replacement project to be $7.5 billion, making it the most expensive project in the company’s history. Enbridge’s Lakehead System delivers approximately 1.7 million barrels of oil in the US daily.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Miles Jr., assigned to the Western District in MI, said his office was pleased with the deal.
The settlement, disclosed by Enbridge along with the U.S. Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, resolves violations of the Clean Water Act following one of the largest inland oil spills in U.S. history, into the Kalamazoo River at Marshall, Michigan.
The complaint also alleges that on September 9, 2010, another Enbridge pipeline, known as Line 6A, discharged at least 6,427 barrels of oil which Romeoville, Illinois, much of which flowed through a drainage ditch into a retention pond in Romeoville.
The settlement also requires Enbridge to make several improvements in its monitoring and emergency preparedness programs. Enbridge later replaced Line 6B, which originates in Griffith, Ind., crosses the lower peninsula of MI and ends in Sarnia, Ont., with a new, larger pipeline.
The Kalamazoo River reopened for recreational activities after 22 months of cleanup work that Acting EPA Regional Administrator Robert Kaplan described as “arduous”.
Line 6B’s rupture sent roughly 800,000 gallons of crude into the river near Marshall.
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The 2010 spills were cited in the campaign by environmental groups to block Enbridge rival TransCanada from building the Keystone XL pipeline to carry heavy crude from Canada’s oil sands region into the United States. There is a 30-day comment period on the settlement.
