Oil spilled in Michigan; moving forward

Aug. 13, 2010

By Jessica Tobacman


Enbridge Oil Spill Site, near Marshall, Mich., Aug. 8
Photo credit: Lighthawk for the Sierra Club's Michigan Chapter

This summer has seen two major oil spills in the United States. The first occurred on a tremendously large scale on April 20, sending around 206 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, according to the federal government. The second was much smaller, taking place on July 25 in Michigan, when a ruptured, 30-inch pipeline dumped oil into the Kalamazoo River; the total amount of that spill may have been 819,000 gallons, or more than 1 million gallons, depending on the source of the estimate—the owner of the pipe or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), respectively.

Enbridge Inc., owns the ruptured pipe near Talmadge Creek, which feeds into the Kalamazoo River. Enbridge had been receiving notices since January describing the corrosion of the since-broken pipeline. However, the problem was a low enough priority for the company that it did not notice the pipe had burst until the following day.

For some of the areas the Michigan spill affects, the Calhoun County Public Health Department has issued voluntary evacuation notices for residents. This is because of the high levels in the air of benzene, a chemical that may cause short-term nausea, vomiting, rapid heart rates, sleepiness, dizziness or headaches, or long-term increases of the risk of cancer. Notices for evacuation are for temporary relocations, until the threat has passed.

The Michigan disaster has devastated the habitats of local ducks, frogs, geese, herons, muskrats and swans, perhaps for years into the future, with oil sinking into 30 miles of marshes. The oil has also coated turtles, birds and muskrats with residue.

Although the response to the spill was relatively fast, oil remains on the riverbank, re-contaminating the Kalamazoo River and Talmadge Creek, where the spill started, said Anne Woiwode, state director of the Sierra Club’s Michigan Chapter.

The EPA is now in charge of containment and clean-up efforts. Before accepting a cleanup plan from Enbridge, the agency had rejected several other proposals by the company. “A lot of work has yet to be done,” Woiwode said.

Josh Ellis, water expert at the Metropolitan Planning Council in Chicago, noted that his two major concerns about the oil spill are the state of our infrastructure, i.e. the broken pipeline, and our continued demand for oil.

“We don’t maintain our infrastructure as well as we need to,” Ellis said. “Continued demand is increasing and the shift in our thinking and behavior at the cash register is not happening. We need to get serious about decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels.” That includes building alternatives, such as public transit and locally grown foods, which use less energy to transport items to their destinations. “Unfortunately, that’s happening only piecemeal.”

The likelihood of another oil spill is almost certain, Ellis stated. “There is going to be more and more risk associated with getting this resource. … We have already found and consumed the oil that is easy and safe to get.”

Despite all of this grim news, individuals can take actions to help deal with the current situations of rising demand for oil, increasingly difficult-to-reach resources and deteriorating infrastructure.

Steps include looking into what produces a home’s electricity and where that source is located, Ellis advised. “Finding out would be a huge step,” he said. This process sounds relatively straightforward: The source of a home’s electricity is likely to be available simply from the web site of a local utility, such as ComEd.

The goal is to become a more knowledgeable consumer; to learn about the costs and results of consumption, and then to use that information to communicate with politicians. “People need to demand a higher level of discussion with their elected officials … to get more informed and act on it,” Ellis said.