Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan sues Enbridge Partners

CHICAGO, Ill. - An oil leak in Chicago's Southwest suburbs has prompted Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to file a lawsuit against Enbridge Energy Partners, the operator of the pipeline.
Enbridge Lakehead System Line 6A leaked in Romeoville, Ill. Madigan says the lawsuit will ensure Enbridge will follow through with its cleanup efforts.
The state's attorney general alleges Enbridge violated state environmental regulations when the pipeline leaked in Romeoville in September.

The eight-count civil suit alleges Enbridge caused danger to public health and created a public nuisance.

The state also wants Enbridge to pay response and oversight costs related to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's response to the Sept. 9 spill.

It's also asking the court to require Enbridge to survey wells within two kilometers of the spill and identify public water sources and drains that might be threatened by the leak.

Enbridge said in a statement responding to the filing: "Enbridge has worked cooperatively with all of the regulatory authorities involved in responding to the incident on our Line 6A near Romeoville, Ill., since the very beginning. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an order with a number of items that Enbridge was required to comply with, and we have successfully completed nearly all of the items and will soon finish the remainder. By filing this action, the Illinois Attorney General's office is simply protecting the State's interests and insuring that Enbridge will follow through with addressing any concerns that the State may have arising out of the Line 6A incident, in addition to those action items being addressed under the U.S. EPA Order."

Oklahoma woman accused of using Gulf oil spill to defraud investors

DUNCAN, Okla. - A Duncan woman has been accused of used investors' money for personal expenses, including gambling, a state agency claims in documents filed in Oklahoma County District Court.
The woman is accused of defrauding investors into buying unregistered stock in a company she falsely claims has contracts to clean up Gulf Coast oil spills, according to the Oklahoma Securities Department.
"We absolutely deny that any investor money was used for any gambling purposes,” counters Miller's attorney, Bob Wyatt. "It's being used for office and business expenses and the promotion of the business... routine office expenses.”
Miller, 49, as president and chief executive officer of MBS Inspection Corp. in Duncan, collected money from investors under the pretense the company had contracts to clean up oil spills and inspect pipelines, the Securities Department alleges.
"As far as it appears to me now, it looks like $200,000,” said Irving Faught, administrator of the Oklahoma Securities Department. "There's no way to know that until you get in and develop the facts in court.”
Miller promised 10 investors stock certificates and claimed the stock would be publicly traded in the future. Miller never delivered the stock certificates and instead used the money for personal expenses, such as gambling, Faught said.

CSB to investigate Deepwater Horizon blowout

WASHINGTON - In response to a request from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to conduct a full and thorough investigation into the causes of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) Chairman John Bresland pledged to investigate the accidental chemical release that destroyed the rig - but also stressed that such an investigation may pose a challenge to the board's resources.
Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., and Subcommittee
Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich., sent a letter to CSB on June 8 requesting the investigation.
"We make this request because we believe CSB's past work on BP puts it in a unique position to address questions about BP's safety culture and practices," they wrote, noting in particular CSB's investigation into the 2005 fatal BP Texas City, Texas, refinery explosion and the 2006 BP pipeline leak in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
Waxman and Stupek asked CSB to investigate whether the circumstances leading up to the explosion reflect problems in BP's safety culture; whether cost-cutting and budgetary concerns played a role in BP's decisions about well design and testing; how BP, Transocean and other contractors assessed changes to process, technology, equipment, personnel, budget and training on the rig; if BP provided adequate oversight of contractors; and whether CSB can draw parallels between this oil rig explosion and the 2005 Texas City explosion.
In his response, Bresland stressed that CSB will make this work a priority and "apply all of our available resources to ensure the best possible investigation." He added that the process will include key investigators who were involved in the BP Texas City refinery explosion investigation.
He added, however, that this investigation must "be approached without any preconceptions and that all possible underlying factors and causes are thoroughly and objectively examined. Like other CSB investigations, the investigation should include an examination of key technical factors, the safety cultures involved, and the effectiveness of relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards."
Bresland also noted that CSB will work to avoid duplicating other investigations already planned or underway. He requested the committee's help in promoting cooperation with other investigations and in ensuring that CSB's investigation remains independent from potential criminal inquiries.
"The CSB plans to focus on events prior to and including the explosion on April 20; we believe that an examination of the response to the disaster and the impact of the ongoing massive oil spill is beyond the CSB's current resources and abilities," Bresland wrote.

Bad luck BP involved in yet another pipeline spill at Prudhoe Bay

ANCHORAGE - A new spill has occurred in the Prudhoe Bay oil field, the Department of Environmental Conservation said on Dec. 22.
The spill was discovered on Dec. 21 by a BP oil field operator doing a routine inspection at a drill site. It was coming from a six-inch pipeline carrying a mixture of oil, water and natural gas, officials said.
BP spokesman Steve Rinehart said the break occurred where the production line left the well house.
"That break triggered the automatic shut-off valve of the well," he said.
The force of the release destroyed the back of the well house and blew open its front doors. When the pipe separated, it misted the surrounding area.
DEC said about 12,000 square feet of the well's gravel pad was sprayed with oil, as well as an undetermined area of tundra.
The cause and amount of the spill were not immediately known.
Rinehart said it appears to be a small spill "because it happened and ended quickly."
A BP spill response team was sent on Dec. 21 to delineate the contaminated area, state officials said. Two DEC staff who were in Prudhoe Bay also have been sent to the well pad at Drill Site 6 to evaluate the spill.
BP operates the Prudhoe Bay oil field.
In November, one of the North Slope's biggest spills - 46,000 gallons of oil, water and natural gas - was reported at the Lisburne oil field, another BP-operated site. That spill occurred when an 18-inch pipeline split on Nov. 29.
Officials believe ice plugged up the Lisburne pipe and likely caused a two-foot-long rupture at the bottom of the pipe, allowing oil and water to spray out across a three-quarter acre of tundra. Most of the oil and water congealed in a large pile under the pipe

U.S. Coast Guard in 2008 logged 90-plus oil spills a day

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In 2008, more than 33,000 petroleum spills were reported to the U.S. Coast Guard National Response Center.
Responsible for the spills are rigs, pipelines and infrastructure both on land and offshore, with the most serious health and environmental consequences coming when oil and related contaminants pollute waterways or seep into groundwater.
Pipelines and platforms accounted for more than 1,300 spills each, and storage tanks were responsible for more than 2,400 spills.
According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, a reported spill should be any "Discharges that cause a sheen or discoloration on the surface of a body of water; discharges that violate applicable water-quality standards; and discharges that cause a sludge or emulsion to be deposited beneath the surface of the water or on adjoining shorelines."
A 2002 report by the National Academies found that an average 880,000 gallons of petroleum enter North American ocean waters annually because of oil drilling and exploration each year, mainly from leaks in the Gulf of Mexico and off Southern California, northern Alaska and eastern Canada.

59,000-gallon Chevron crude leak in Utah was from three-inch line

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Chevron Pipe Line Co. crews were working on Jan. 9 to clean up about 59,000 gallons of crude oil that leaked from a ruptured pipeline south of Vernal on Jan 7-8.
A Chevron official said a three-inch feeder pipeline ruptured near Bonanza, 30 miles south of Vernal, allowing about 1,400 barrels of crude to leak onto the frozen ground, which is BLM land.
The event may have been related to the cold temperatures in the Uinta Basin.
Cold air jells the oil and keeps it from flowing far, said Houston-based Chevron spokesman Mickey Driver. "It's not free-flowing, so it's not going anywhere."
The three-inch line - which connects to the major pipeline that travels from the Uinta Basin to Chevron's Salt Lake City refinery - was shut down when the leak was detected early Jan. 8.

Enbridge cleaning up 4,000-bbl. spill spill at oil sands terminal

CALGARY, Alta. - Enbridge Inc, Canada's No. 2 pipeline firm, said a malfunctioning valve at an oil storage facility in the oil sands region of northern Alberta has spewed out 4,000 barrels of oil, but the spill was mostly contained on the grounds of its tank farm.
The company, whose pipelines carry the lion's share of oil sands crude to U.S. markets, said the spill occurred Jan. 3 at its Cheecham terminal south of Fort McMurray, Alberta, when a small fitting on a valve failed.
"It was primarily contained," said Gina Jordan. "A small amount was outside the terminal but the majority of the leak was contained."
Enbridge said the spill had not cut shipments on its pipelines from the oil sands.
Greenpeace spokesman Mike Hudema, whose group publicized the spill, said he considered the incident another blow to the environmental track record for the oil sands and called for increased regulatory scrutiny of activity in the region, which has the biggest reserves outside the Middle East.