Enbridge Pipeline spill in Wisconsin
29th July 2012
[image courtesy: WHTC. Blackened area is not shadow, but spilled crude saturating soil above the break in Line 14]
Reuters reports Canada's Enbridge Inc is racing to repair a major pipline that spilled more than a thousand barrels of oil in a Wisconsin field, provoking fresh ire over the latest in a series of of leaks attribute to the embattled pipeline owner.
The small spill on Friday -- almost two years to the day after a ruptured Enbridge line fouled part of the Kalamazoo River in Michigan -- has forced the closure of a major conduit for Canadian light crude shipments to U.S. refiners and threatens further damage to the reputation of a company that launched a $3 billion expansion program just two months ago.
Enbridge said it intended to begin repairs to Line 14 , siutauted near Grand Marsh, Wisconsin late on Saturday after making "excellent progress" in clean-up, allowing for visual inspection of the line. But it still did not know what had caused the incident and provided no estimate on when the 318,000 barrels-per-day Line 14 would resume service.
An official with the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) said two inspectors were at the site on Sunday, and that all of the pooled oil had been cleaned up. "The line has been uncovered to begin removing the failed section and send it to a metallurgical lab for examination," PHMSA spokesman Damon Hill said.
source: Reuters