Houston-based Enbridge Energy’s pipeline ruptured in 2010, resulting in the accidental release of 800,000 gallons of oil into the Talmadge Creek and Kalamazoo River in Michigan. The incident was one of the largest inland oil spills in U.S. history. Fast-forward almost five years later, and the company has finally entered into a settlement with the parties affected by the huge spill.
The U.S. Department of Justice recently filed a proposed consent decree in the case United States v. Enbridge Energy, in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Michigan, Southern Division, according to the DOJ’s recent press release. The consent decree will resolve claims of federal, state and tribal resource trustees for natural resource damages (NRD) caused by the rupture of Enbridge’s Line 6B pipeline in Michigan. That oil spill affected more than 1,560 acres of stream and river habitat, as well as floodplain and upland areas, injuring birds, mammals, reptiles and other wildlife. The river was immediately closed to the public and sections remained closed for several years, reducing recreational and tribal uses of the river.
