U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer (D- Michigan) said on Wednesday that Enbridge, the company that runs the pipeline responsible for this week’s oil spill in the Kalamazoo River, wasn’t quick enough in alerting government officials.
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A state of disaster was declared after an estimated 877,000 gallons of oil leaked on Monday into the Talmadge Creek, connected to the Kalamazoo –37,000 gallons more than originally estimated. Enbridge quickly owned up publicly to the spill.
“This is our responsibility,” Enbridge’s president and chief executive Patrick D. Daniel said Tuesday evening in Battle Creek. “This is our mess. We’re going to clean it up.”
Now the company says there was no delay in alerting the proper authorities.
Enbridge Inc. officials say the spill was detected around 10:30 a.m. EDT and confirmed around 11:30 a.m. Schauer released a document saying the incident was not reported to the National Response Center until about 1:30 p.m.
Enbridge says it’s required to determine the spill’s possible volume before calling and first tried around 1 p.m.
The cause of the spill is not yet known, but is under investigation.
Officials say the leak has been fixed and the spill appears to be contained.
With AP
