Enbridge contractor fired over safety, documentation issues

MARSHALL, Mich. - Enbridge Inc.'s main contractor on the efforts to
clean up the recent oil spill on the Kalamazoo River let go a subcontractor after allegations that it was using undocumented workers and was not abiding by federal safety standards.
Enbridge spokeswoman Terri Larson confirmed on Aug. 31 that Houston-based Garner Environmental Services terminated its agreement with Hallmark Industrial LLC, also of Texas, on Aug. 30 after an Aug. 30 report in the Michigan Messenger about the undocumented workers and safety issues.
The report said that hundreds of Hallmark workers were undocumented and were working in unsafe conditions, working 12 to 14 hour shifts, seven days a week, and getting paid in cash.
"They made that decision independently," Larson said of Garner, noting that Enbridge has "no reason to be concerned" about Garner's ability to perform the cleanup work, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has told Enbridge must be wrapped up by Sept. 27.
Photos of the worksite provided by the Messenger, an online news and public policy website, to the EPA prompted the agency to contact Enbridge to make sure the company was following all safety regulations, said Mark Durno, the EPA's deputy incident commander for the spill response.
In some of the photos, workers were seen in so-called "clean zones" wearing oil-covered protective gear. In others, workers wearing the same oil-contaminated gear were seen next to food and water.
Enbridge has complied with an EPA order to re-educate its workers and those employed by its contractors on safety issues, Durno said.

Hundreds of undocumented workers hired for Enbridge spill cleanup

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. - An oil spill cleanup subcontractor from Texas hired to work on cleanup of the Line 6B spill in Michigan bused in hundreds of undocumented workers to Battle Creek until Enbridge and the master contractor fired the subcontractor.
The workers had been working 100-hour weeks in unsafe conditions, an investigation by the Michigan Messenger found.
The Texas company, Hallmark Industrial, brought hundreds of workers to Battle
Creek from the Gulf Coast, putting them up in hotels and putting them to work cleaning oil-soaked islands and shorelines along the Kalamazoo river. The workers were expected to work 12 to 14 hour shifts, seven days a week, for which they receive $800 a week - in cash - a hotel room, and food while on the job sites.
On Aug. 28, a reporter for the Michigan Messenger visited the site where the workers were picked up each morning. Half of them admitted to being undocumented workers. All asked not to be identified.
On Aug. 29, a busload of 150 new workers arrived by bus from Texas. The immigration status of the new workers was unknown, but the conditions under which they were to work was confirmed by Hallmark workers and by multiple photographs of the worksite.
Workers were kept on the river for 12 to 14 hours a day, seven days a week, and photographs show what appears to be a number of violations of safety standards. In those photos, undocumented workers are seen covered in oil and mud getting food and water. In one photo, a worker covered in oil is seen sitting on the white cooler from which workers get their water.