NWF photo – rescued turtle covered in tar sands oil from the Kalamazoo River

Enbridge was referring to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into the July 2010, Marshall, Mich. spill. This tar sands spill killed an unknown number of wildlife, sickened communities and polluted nearly 40 miles of waterways—for generations to come.

Enbridge can no longer hide behind the unanswered questions and must now face the reality of having the largest inland tar sands oil spill in history. Not only do people want answers from Enbridge, but we also want solutions from the federal agency that oversees pipeline safety, the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

NTSB’s investigation revealed that Enbridge demonstrated gross negligence in maintaining their pipelines along with inept operators at their controls. All of this aided in the largest inland tar sands oil spills in history, which went undetected and unreported for nearly 17 hours. The disaster was made worse by Enbridge not having adequate response plans in place and not properly notifying first responders of possible issues on the line.

Not only did this investigation answer some of the most basic questions, it is also going to be the basis for many decisions about fines, penalties and even criminal actions towards Enbridge.

NTSB also revealed that Enbridge has had a detailed history of failure and continues to not act on that failure. Matt Nicholson, pipeline investigator with the federal safety board added this comment:

“Lessons are being lost” on Enbridge…

Despite the obvious failure and neglect, the State of Michigan and the federal government are allowing Enbridge Energy to build an additional pipeline along this decrepit pipeline, which will have the ability to triple the amount of tar sands oil flowing through the Great Lakes.

For the National Wildlife Federation, who has been on the ground responding to this disaster since the first few days, these basic needs and actions are clear and most urgent:

• Line 6B should not be in operation until all structural defects are repaired and Enbridge should not be allowed to build a new and larger pipeline alongside Line 6B.
  

  NWF photo: Tar sands oil in the Kalamazoo River, one year later.

• Enbridge should be required to run an integrity inspection on all operating pipelines within the US, by a third party.
• No tar sands pipelines should be approved for construction until the National Academy of Sciences has concluded a study on how transportation of diluted bitumen impacts current pipelines.
• Any pipeline operator transporting this product should be required to develop alternative response plans; taking into account the unique nature of the toxic heavy bitumen and the need for increased relationships with first responders.
• A thorough health study should be conducted on how a release of diluted bitumen impacts wildlife and human health—short and long term.
• Integrity management programs need to be overhauled and there needs to be increased oversight, on the part of PHMSA, during pipeline inspections and when reviewing emergency response plans.

To learn more about tar sands pipelines and ways to support alternative energy solutions, please visit NWF’s Action Fund Center.

PHMSA’s press statement noted:

“PHMSA’s investigation found multiple violations of its hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations related to integrity maintenance, failure to follow operation and management procedures, and reporting and operator qualification requirements. PHMSA issued its notice and proposed civil penalty to Enbridge in a Notice of Probable Violation.”

All of this happens while Enbridge is trying to double (and perhaps triple) the amount of tar sands oil that pumps through the very pipeline that burst two years ago.

Photo MI DEQ – Tar sands oiled Kalamazoo River by Enbridge Energy

Enbridge Waited 17 Hours After Spill to Shut Off Pipeline

PHMSA noted that 17 hours had passed since alarms warned Enbridge of an issue and they officially shut off Line 6B. Regardless of the alarms, Enbridge still had to be told, by a local utility, that a spill had occurred. In those 17 hours, Enbridge continued to try and pump more and more tar sands oil through their line as a way to override the alarms.

PHMSA also confirmed that Enbridge knew of large defects on the pipeline years before this incident occurred.

Does this sound like a company that should be allowed to operate a pipeline in one of the largest freshwater resources on earth, let alone be allowed to expand the very pipeline that burst?

For the past year, Enbridge has been using this disaster to manipulate the public and the State of Michigan into thinking they are replacing this line because they want to make it safer. This tactic is a bold-faced lie to the public impacted by the spill and to the regulators left to determine its future. Enbridge is in fact replacing Line 6B so that they can expand to pump even more tar sands oil through our state, the Great Lakes, and through our country—for export.

It is critical that our lawmakers and federal agencies understand what Enbridge is trying to do with this expansion and hold Enbridge 100% accountable for what has happened in Marshall, Mich.

To date, they have literally gotten away with killing hundreds of wildlife, putting people’s health at risk and destroying very sensitive habitat for years to come. While $3.7 million is the largest fine issued by PHMSA, it is merely a drop in the bucket compared to Enbridge’s bottom line, especially when you consider their future plans.

NWF photo – rescued turtle covered in tar sands oil from the Kalamazoo River

Regulators: Watch Enbridge Like a Hawk

The Michigan Public Service Commission should deny all permits put forward by Enbridge Energy, federal agencies need to review this project in its entirety, and the current line needs to be shut down until proper pipeline safety laws are developed that address how Enbridge was allowed to have a spill of this size. 

In addition, any other pipeline that Enbridge operates, including Line 5 that runs under the Straits of Mackinaw, needs to have a thorough investigation into its integrity (by a third party) before Enbridge is allowed to continue operation. Without a doubt, this company should not be allowed to expand any of their pipelines.

The Great Lakes are a treasure to Americans and the world. Congress has confirmed this by investing over $1 billion into restoration initiatives. We cannot afford to allow companies, like Enbridge Energy, to risk it all at their own discretion.

Keep checking Wildlife Promise for the latest on these developing issues and please speak out for wildlife impacted by tar sands development.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, via State Dept.

Emerging from talks with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird late this week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton indicated that the State Department is getting ready to approve the dirtiest, largest pipeline ever to be built in the U.S. The diplomatic-speak whereby Mr. Baird said he wanted a fast decision, while Mrs. Clinton said they had agreed to some safety enhancements seemed to signal the permit process is drawing to a close.

NWF senior vice president Jeremy Symons said, “The Canadian government seems to have more say in this dirty tar sands pipeline decision than the Americans who are at put at risk by this pipeline. The State Department hasn’t allowed the U.S. citizens who oppose the pipeline to talk to Sec. Clinton, but the Canadian government appears to have unlimited access on behalf of their oil companies.”

The news comes as long sought after reforms to improve pipeline safety seems to be moving forward in Congress.  A rash of major spills and explosions may be responsible for some rare bipartisan agreement on the failings of the current safety laws and regulations in place.

Pipeline Safety Bill Advances in Congress

It took several serious ruptures, contamination and evacuations, but finally, Congress is moving to tighten up on pipeline safety.  Over two million miles of oil and gas pipelines crisscross the country, many of them unseen underground.  Pipeline breaks have dumped spills into the Yellowstone and Kalamazoo Rivers and in Alaska and in San Bruno, California, for example.

via NWF

One bill would require gas line operators to document their maximum allowable operating pressures, a key factor in the San Bruno accident.  The bills include tougher requirements for pipelines crossing waterways to address some of the weaknesses that led to the Yellowstone River spill and generally the bills would strengthen the mapping of pipelines and the notification of accidents to state and local governments and emergency responders.  One bill would require records of all inspections.  They would increase penalties for safety violations.

The House bill was crafted in a rare bipartisan negotiation between Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI) and John Dingell (D-MI), which stands as a good symbol of how Congress should work.  After all, environmental protection shouldn’t be a partisan or ideological issue.

It’s nice to have some good news from the Congress.  These bills would give millions of Americans more assurance that their water supplies and property will not be harmed by an oil or gas spill from a broken pipeline. They will push the Department of Transportation to beef up enforcement sand spur improvements in technology and training that could stop leaks from occurring and attenuate the damage if they do.

Keystone XL Project Would Harm Energy Security

The bill stands in contrast to recently approved House legislation perversely called the “North American-Made Energy Security Act” that requires the Obama administration to expedite its decision-making on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.  As we’ve said before, if approved Keystone XL will carry one of the dirtiest, highest polluting fuels ever through the Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico for export.

CC Chapman/Flickr

Mr. Baird and other supporters have provided no guarantees the energy would be used in America.  If anything, the industry has issued documents suggesting they want to move supply away from Americans and to ports that would ship the heavy crude to places like China and India.  The result: higher gas prices for many Americans.

The bill amounts to an unnecessary, ill-conceived ploy that could force a precipitous decision without solid facts.

NWF Pushes for a Stronger Bill

Groups like the National Wildlife Federation are working to see that the final pipeline safety bill requires studies to determine the full impacts of transporting tar sands oil through pipelines – even when a spill occurs.  Once those studies are done, appropriate regulations are needed to ensure that pipelines are built to withstand the corrosive and unstable nature of tar sands sludge and oil. Until a thorough study of this product is done and until proper regulations are in place, Congress should not be jamming through the legislative process a bill to force a premature, ill-informed decision on questionable polluter projects like Keystone XL.

The pipeline that burst during the Enbridge tar sands oil spill in Michigan - July 2010

No study has been done nor regulations developed for tar sands pipelines, and pipeline safety regulators have not been involved in the environmental review for TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. This is according to testimony of Ms. Cynthia Quarterman, Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), before Congress during a hearing on pipeline safety last month. We need look no further than Michigan’s Kalamazoo River, which is still being cleaned up a year after an Enbridge pipeline spilled nearly a million gallons of tar sands crude, to know it’s long overdue.

Then today, in the wake of the disastrous 42,000 gallon spill into Montana’s Yellowstone River from ExxonMobile’s Silvertip Pipeline, which may have carried tar sands crude, seven senators raised new safety concerns about Keystone XL. In a letter to Secretary Clinton, they cited the 12 spills from TransCanada’s year-old Keystone tar sands pipeline and asked whether the State Department will work with PHMSA on Keystone XL’s environmental review for before finalizing it. They also asked whether the State Department would address EPA’s concerns about the chemicals that would be mixed with the viscous tar sands crude to make it flow through the pipeline, as well as Nebraskan farmers and ranchers’ concerns that TransCanada chose the worst possible route through Ogallala Aquifer. With all the recent spills putting pipeline safety higher on the list of congressional priorities, the senators’ scrutiny of Keystone XL is timely.

“The existing Keystone pipeline has been in operation for less than one year and has spilled 12 times, including spills of 400 barrels of crude in North Dakota on May 7, and 10 barrels of crude in Kansas on May 29.  The May spills resulted in the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issuing a Corrective Action Order to TransCanada, finding that “the continued operation of the pipeline without corrective measures would be hazardous to life, property and the environment.” These spills are troubling, as the Keystone XL pipeline will have similar characteristics, and underscore the need for careful assessment of both the spill risks and route of Keystone XL.”

Oil in Montana's Yellowstone River (NWF's Alexis Bonogofsky)

Among those scrutinizing Keystone XL is Senator Lautenberg, the chair of the Senate subcommittee with jurisdiction over pipeline safety. In May, the full Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee passed his Pipeline Transportation Safety Improvement Act of 2011 (S. 275) that, among other things, calls on PHMSA to conduct a tar sands pipeline safety study. There is now interest in moving this legislation on a fast track to the Senate floor.

Meanwhile, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is considering a draft pipeline safety bill, also calling for a tar sands pipeline safety study. This is a step in the right direction. However, the House should abandon consideration of Congressman Terry’s bill to expedite Keystone XL’s permitting process, echo the concerns raised by the senators, and focus on enacting pipeline safety legislation to protect public health and the environment.

Please take a moment right now to ask President Obama to say no to Keystone XL.

"Windmills Not Oil Spills" read the sign of a young Nebraska protester this week. The proposed pipeline would cut through Nebraska and 5 other heartland states. (Image from Bold Nebraska)

With a decision from the State Department coming soon on whether to approve the massive and risky Keystone XL pipeline, Canadian oil giant TransCanada has launched an ad campaign repeating some of their well worn spin for why we should trust that they’ve cleaned up their act.

It’s shameless. 

The industry buried clean energy legislation last year, left the Gulf coast a wreck, is cranking up gasoline and oil prices, and now they essentially say “trust us this time.”  It’s blatant propaganda aimed at softening up decision makers in Washington, DC.

We’ve heard the radio ads on DC’s News Talk WTOP, and seen them on ESPN and CNN. The latter is purportedly a cable buy that started in the middle of last month. You can hear it at this link: Transcanada 540a 1.5.11

The ad war is contrasted by the images of Nebraskans protesting at the state capital this week to stop the pipeline.  They fear a safety disaster and the damage to the economy that would ensue from a spill.

San Martin Texmelucan in Mexico pinpointed on a Google Map.

Investigators are saying the cause of the explosion in San Martin Texmelucan, in Puebla state, was probably the work of thieves who drilled in the line to steal fuel.  Such breaks-ins are on the rise Mexico.

CNN reports video from the scene showed a huge billowing wall of smoke that reached into the sky. Rescue workers could be seen walking through the still-smoldering streets.

Twelve of the people killed in the blast were children, the state news agency Notimex reported.

CALIFORNIA PIPELINE EXPLOSION GETS CLOSER SCRUTINY

In U.S. pipeline news, federal investigators are saying they may subpoena witnesses to testify in Washington, DC about the deadly Pacific Gas & Electric Co. natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, California last September.

National Transportation Safety Board members voted during the weekend to hold a hearing on the explosion and fire that killed eight people and destroyed 37 homes.

PIPELINES INHERENTLY DANGEROUS

The frequency and recurrence of pipeline other fossil fuel safety incidents was the subject of a report, “Assault on America“, released by NWF earlier this year. From 2000 to 2010, the oil and gas industry accounted for hundreds of deaths, explosions, fires, seeps, and spills as well as habitat and wildlife destruction in the United States. These disasters demonstrate a pattern of feeding the addiction to oil leaving in their wake sacrifice zones that affect communities, local economies, and our landscapes the report found.

Incidents occur on a monthly and, sometimes, daily basis across the country but sadly only a portion of these make the front page or evening news.

Instead of building more dangerous pipelines, like Keystone XL, which would double our imports of tar sands fuel, NWF is urging the Obama administration develop clean energy alternatives more quickly. You can send a message to the administration by taking action here.