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U.S. Seeks Record Civil Fine in Kalamazoo Spill


Oil on the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Mich., in July 2010 after a rupture in an Endridge pipeline carrying diluted bitumen.
Reuters

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
July 2, 2012, 5:41 pm

The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration [ http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/ ] said Monday that it would seek to impose a $3.7 million fine [ http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/portal/site/PHMSA/menuitem.ebdc7a8a7e39f2e55cf2031050248a0c/?vgnextoid=0faf7fe7f1a38310VgnVCM1000001ecb7898RCRD&vgnextchannel=d248724dd7d6c010VgnVCM10000080e8a8c0RCRD&vgnextfmt=print ] — a record civil penalty — on the pipeline operator Enbridge over an oil spill in the Kalamazoo River in Michigan two years ago.

The spill from the pipeline, which involved at least 800,000 gallons of a form of crude called diluted bitumen, has proved difficult to clean up, and parts of the river remain closed. The pipeline agency, part of the Department of Transportation, found that the company had violated many federal regulations, including failing to follow proper management procedures and using operators without the proper qualifications.

For example, despite alarms [ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/10/business/energy-environment/agency-struggles-to-safeguard-pipeline-system.html?pagewanted=all ] indicating a problem with the pipeline, Enbridge employees tried several times to restart the flow, with more oil spilled as a result. “We will hold pipeline operators accountable if they do not follow proper safety procedures to protect the environment and local communities,” the federal transportation secretary, Ray LaHood [ http://www.dot.gov/bios/lahood.htm ], said.

Enbridge now has 30 days to indicate whether it will accept the judgment. The company said in a statement on Monday that it had cooperated fully with United States investigators and was reviewing the proposed penalty in preparation for a response. It said it would not comment further “until that analysis is complete.”

A larger question raised by the spill is whether diluted bitumen – a combination of a gritty oil-containing paste and diluting liquids – is more hazardous to transport than conventional crude and thus requires the adoption of special precautions and regulations. The agency has commissioned the National Academy of Sciences to study that question.

The answer is important because oil from Canada’s oil sands region is usually transported in that form. Like 6B, the pipeline involved in the July 2010 spill in Michigan, a number of pipelines carry “dil-bit” from Canada to the United States, and the United States will have to decide whether to welcome more.

Keystone XL [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/k/keystone_pipeline/index.html ], a gargantuan pipeline project that was put partly on hold by the Obama administration this year, would carry dil-bit from Canada southward through the heart of the country and on to the gulf coast and is likely to come up for review again after the presidential election.

© 2012 The New York Times Company

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