Spill contained as of Tuesday night and won’t drift downstream, Enbridge officials say
A leak in a 76-centimetre pipeline built in 1969 was detected in southern Michigan on Monday, and efforts are underway to contain and clean up 3,319,708 litres of oil that spilled into a creek that flows into the Kalamazoo River. The river is one of the state’s major waterways, and the leaky pipe carries about 30 million litres of oil daily from Griffith, Indiana, to Sarnia, Ontario. Calgary-based Enbridge Inc.’s affiliate Enbridge Energy Partners LP of Houston initially estimated that about 3,100,161 litres of oil spilled into Talmadge Creek before the company stopped the flow, but Michigan state officials maintain the 3,319,708 litres figure is correct. As of late Tuesday, oil was reported in at least 26 kilometres of the Kalamazoo River downstream of the spill. Company officials said the spill appeared to be contained and oil wouldn’t likely drift much more downstream.