Enbridge outlines new crude oil pipeline project to serve Cushing Hub

PONTIAC, Ill. - Enbridge representatives on April 23 discussed a proposed new pipeline project that would begin north of Pontiac, Ill., and terminate at the Cushing, Okla., hub beginning in 2014.

While the project is in its preliminary stages, Enbridge is holding open houses in the four states affected - Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma - to try and educate the public on the proposed 600-mile pipeline.

An Enbridge  open house was held at the Pontiac Rec Center and about 50 people had stopped in by 7 p.m., said Lorraine Little, senior manager of Enbridge public affairs.

"There has been good interest shown for the project," she said.

The proposed crude oil pipeline would run parallel to the current Spearhead pipeline for the most part, said Jerrid Anderson, project manager. About 170 miles would be in Illinois, he said.

"There would be about a 50-foot offset between the pipelines. The new line will not replace the Spearhead. They would both be operational,” he explained.

The Spearhead line has a capacity for 190,000 barrels per day (b/d), while the new pipeline would be able to carry 600,000 b/d. The new pipeline, originally conceived to use 30-inch diameter pipe, was changed to a larger 36-inch diameter pipe. The pipe would be buried four feet underground.

Enbridge to replace 75 miles of pipeline that ruptured in Michigan

MARSHALL,, Mich. - Enbridge says it needs to replace 75 miles of pipeline across Southern Michigan and northern Indiana.

About five miles of new pipeline would go in near Marshall, where a fracture last year resulted in over 800,000 gallons of heavy Canadian crude spilling out into the last relatively unspoiled section of the Kalamazoo River.

Stretches of pipe in Cass, St. Joseph, northern Indiana and Southeast Michigan would also be replaced.

Before the repairs can be made, the Michigan Public Service Commission will have to hold public hearings.

Enbridge is preparing for the series of hearings beginning with a pre-hearing conference Sept. 21 in Lansing, said MPSC spokeswoman Judy Palnau.

According to Enbridge spokesman Joe Martucci, the company has put in two different requests related to replacement of parts of Line 6B - the pipeline responsible for the leak last July in Fredonia Township.

The first request is to replace a 50-mile segment of Line 6B east of Stockbridge.

The second is to replace three five-mile segments east of Enbridge's pump stations in Niles, Mendon and Marshall, for a total of 15 miles of pipeline replacements.

The segment in Marshall will include the part of the pipe that ruptured on July 25, 2010, although the specific site of the rupture was replaced after the spill.

Enbridge also replaced pipe segments totaling 1.5 miles in Livingston and Oakland counties in February and March and completed a 3,500-foot section of pipe replacement under the St. Clair River in June, Martucci said. But this project, expected to cost the company $286 million, would be much larger.

EPA says Enbridge has not completed cleanup of 2010 Michigan oil spill

MARSHALL, Mich. - It isn't always visible, but there is still oil contaminating the Kalamazoo River Basin more than a year after an Enbridge petroleum pipeline ruptured near Marshall.

"The river looks great," observes Environmental Protection Agency emergency response chief Mark Durno. "The problem isn't what you see. It's what you don't see."

On Aug. 17, government and company representatives presented an update on the cleanup effort to a crowd at the Marshall Community Center.

The EPA says three quarters of a million gallons of spilled oil has been recovered, but there are still 100,000 gallons out there, mostly on the bottom of the Kalamazoo River.

"There is still submerged oil spread along 35 miles of the river impacted by the spill," EPA regional administrator Susan Hedman told the audience.

"There is oil in the river," agrees Bob Sackrider, who owns riverfront property. " You can see the oil in the river, so it's there."

On July 26, 2010, Enbridge Line 6B ruptured and spilled at least 843,000 gallons of oil into Talmage Creek and the Kalamazoo River.

Enbridge crews are stirring up the oil on the river bottom so it rises to the surface. They skim it off and then repeat the process.

"We assess, we clean and after we are done cleaning we reassess," says Dumo.

"We will stay and keep working until the river is restored," adds Hedman.

Enbridge says no coverup in its underestimate of N.W.T. pipeline spill

CALGARY, Alta. - Enbridge says it was not covering up the true size of a pipeline leak in the Northwest Territories, which leaked up to 1,500 barrels into the northern environment.

Enbridge had originally reported that only four barrels of oil leaked from its Norman Wells pipeline on May 9. But the company revised its estimate on June 6, saying 700 to 1,500 barrels had spilled.

The pipeline leak, about 50 kilometers south of the community of Wrigley, N.W.T., has area residents wondering why there was such a discrepancy in Enbridge's estimates.

In the company's first on-air interview since the leak, Enbridge executive Leon Zupan told CBC News that crews only discovered the true size of the spill after they started drilling down into the permafrost to obtain core samples.

"It's really only (been) in the last week to 10 days that we've been able to come up with the assessment," Zupan, who is vice-president of liquid pipelines operations, said on June 7.

"Our initial estimates could only be on what we see," he added. "It's somewhat unique for us because we're dealing with a situation where we have frozen ground. Normally, our pipelines run with warmer product that doesn't allow the frost to trap it in."

Enbridge officials say they don't know how the leak began, but they said the oil leaked out of a pinhole opening. Oil coming out of the small opening has, over time, created a spill about half a hectare in size, according to the company.

Enbridge's Wuori argues that Northern Gateway needed to diversify markets

CALGARY, Alta. - Steve Wuori, in the keynote speech on May 18 at Calgary Economic Development’s 2011 Report to the Community, said Canada has one market, one customer, which is the United States.

The reliance on the United States as its main market is facing challenges, added Wuori. United States demand peaked between 2005 and 2007 and has been declining since. There is also rising domestic production in the United States. Also there is a drive to convert the American heavy truck fleet to natural gas. Other challenges include a growing opposition to the oilsands and a growing production of ethanol south of the border.

Enbridge has proposed its Northern Gateway project between Edmonton and Kitimat - a $5.5 billion, two parallel pipeline project of 1,900 kilometers - which would diversify the market to include Asia and the Pacific Rim markets.

Wuori said the project would be a "game-changer" for Canada because of the unlocking of various new markets - leading to a $2-3 per barrel increase in the price paid for its oiloil, a $270-billion increase in national GDP over 30 years, 63,000 person years of employment during construction, $4.3 billion in labor-related costs and income for people, and about 1,150 long-term jobs once Northern Gateway is in operation.

Enbridge expected to face criminal charges over Michigan spill

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The former chief of the U.S. Department of Justice's environmental crimes section said on March 4 that Enbridge will likely face criminal charges over its 2010 Michigan pipeline rupture.

On July 26, an Enbridge oil pipeline that runs between Griffith, Indiana and Sarnia, Ontario ruptured in Marshall, Mich., spilling an estimated 819,000 gallons of sticky Canadian tarsands crude oil into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River.

"I would expect the federal government to bring criminal negligence charges against Enbridge under the Clean Water Act, which are the same charges they are likely to seek for the Gulf oil spill." said David Uhlmann, who led DOJ's environmental crimes section for seven years and now teaches at the University of Michigan.

In order to prove negligence in such a case, the government only needs to prove that the company failed to use reasonable care, he said. "Negligence is not going to be hard to prove given the lack of maintenance and the extent of damage from the spill.:

Pipeline tests by the company showed corrosion problems on the Michigan pipeline more than a year before the spill and company officials were arguing with regulators for more time to fix the problem as the leak occurred.