from MLive special reporter Chris Killian's submitted report:
MARSHALL, Michigan — The section of Enbridge Energy Partners pipeline that burst, sending more than 1 million gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River in one of the worst oil spills in Midwest history was to be removed late Friday, federal officials said at a press briefing. After days of fighting marshy conditions that slowed the extraction progress, company workers on Friday afternoon had exposed the section of 30-inch pipe and were to begin cutting out an estimated 100-foot section of it later in the day. Once removed, the section was to be inspected by officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the cause of the July 26 spill, before loading it onto a truck, sealing it to prevent tampering and shipping it to the NTSB’s lab in Washington, D.C. A replacement section of pipe could be installed as soon as this weekend, said Steve Wuori, vice president for liquids and pipelines for Enbridge Inc., of which Enbridge Energy Partners is an affiliate.
And while the company needs approval from federal pipeline regulators before re-starting the flow of oil through the pipe at full operational levels, they can begin pumping oil through it at low-pressure levels under the direction of regulators and “as long as there are safety measures in place,” he said. The burst section of pipe is part of the company’s 6B pipeline, which runs 286 miles from Griffith, Ind. to Sarnia, Ontario, carrying about 8 million gallons of crude oil per day under normal operation. In a letter to Enbridge and U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, said that before the company re-opens the line for any use, he wants all of line 6B inspected, have all issues with the line corrected by the company and the public given a chance to review and comment on a re-start plan, among other requests.
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