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Enbridge Oil Spill Kalamazoo Michigan 2010 xx

I make presentations about Water Issues Around the World, and one of the slides I use to show that pollution is not just in developing countries is the one below.  In my business career we did a fair amount of spraying so I was alarmed when I saw the quantity of mist and spray coming up from these multiple nozzles.  The title on the photo was the Enbridge Oil Spill in July 2010 in Michigan near Kalamazoo. 

I had read about this in 2010 right after it happened, and there were not too many details. I also had looked at many articles about the Exxon Valdiz oils spill in Alaska and recalled that many workers had gotten sick.  I was particularly interested in what Dr. Riki Ott had to say in a video called Blackwave.(see trailer for Blackwave)  Now, some 20 years after the spill there is a video interview with Dr. Ott to bring an update about the oil that is still there in Cordova Alaska.(continued below photo)

notes below... interject to above
Most dramatic was the July 2010 Enbridge Energy pipeline leak, which  dumped 843,000 gallons of dilbit into the Kalamazoo River. The cleanup  operation has so far involved more than 2,000 personnel, 150,000 feet of boom, 175 heavy spill response trucks, 43 boats and 48 oil skimmers.  The cost is expected to exceed $700 million.

A 2010 spill in Michigan, which released a million gallons of dilbit in the Kalamazoo River and has cost pipeline operator Enbridge more than $820 million, continues to challenge scientists and regulators as they work on removing submerged oil from the riverbed.

The first thing that came to mind was that there must be a lot of skin exposed and surely these fellows are breathing some of the mist.  I wonder what they are spraying and would it differ from what was used on the Exxon Valdiz clean up.  From this photo it is hard to tell if these workers are using respirators and gloves. Only one of the workers has a hood up so the back of the neck and hair is exposed to the spray mist.

This liquid is under pressure and probably steam too.  It appears they are washing away dilbit and solvents from the beach.  I think one could make the assumption that the rinseate is flowing back into the river. Would it be toxic too? 

I found out that the material being used is Corexit. more on Corexit

Meanwhile the Enbridge dilbit spill deposited 843,000 gallons of dilbit into the Kalamazoo River.  Three years after the spill, it has cost Enbridge over 809 million dollars and some sources say the cost will exceed one billion dollars.

The material that was flowing through the pipeline that burst was six feet long and spilled Dilbit for 17 hours before it was stopped.  Even though sensors reported the leak to the Enbridge offices in ???? the operators thought it was a fluke and maybe the pipe was jambed so they started it back up after momentarily stopping it.  For quite a time, the officials at Enbridge did not say that it was a dilbit spill and not an oil spill.  There is a distintion

It has taken three years and now there is a great deal of information out about the spill.

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