By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent

MARSHALL, Mich. — An irrigation and water use ban remains in effect two weeks after a broken oil pipeline dumped an estimated 820,000 gallons of crude oil into the Talmadge Creek in a rural Calhoun County community.

The spill occurred July 26, when a 30-inch-diameter pipeline belonging to Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P., ruptured. The spill site, located between Marshall and Battle Creek, includes marshlands, residential areas, farmland and businesses. Talmadge Creek feeds the Kalamazoo River, and the spill has affected up to 25 miles of the river.

On Aug. 7, the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) revised its July 27 advisory, which called for a ban on using water from the Kalamazoo River or other connected surface water for crop or lawn irrigation or watering animals, to include only a ban on using water from the river in certain areas.

“Results of data collected from several days of sampling throughout the Kalamazoo River currently indicate no oil spill-related contamination below Morrow Dam to Lake Michigan,” the advisory stated. “Producers, farmers and homeowners using the Kalamazoo River below Morrow Dam for crop or lawn irrigation or watering may now resume using this downstream surface water source.

“Producers, farmers or homeowners above Morrow Dam upstream to the point of the spill are reminded that bans on surface water withdrawals from the Kalamazoo River, or connected waters, remain in place under the authorities of the Calhoun County and Kalamazoo County health departments.”

Michigan State University extension irrigation educator Lyndon Kelly said some growers in the downstream areas west and east of Kalamazoo have felt impact from the spill and the irrigation ban. While he has heard stories that some farmers are “ignoring that ban,” he has found no evidence of it.

Kelly said he visited the affected areas last week and “found no irrigators withdrawing from that area.” If farmers decide to ignore the ban and continue using water from one of the affected waterways, he said the potential outcome would be an unmarketable crop.

“There is risk involved in going ahead and irrigating,” he said. “There is a risk because any detectable levels in the water could end up being called an adulterated crop, and farmers could end up with a crop that they couldn’t sell.”

Melvin Boughton, president of the Calhoun County Farm Bureau, said he is unaware of any farmers directly impacted by the irrigation or water use ban, but said the oil along the riverbank has impacted some livestock grazing and wildlife.

“There’s oil on the vegetation along the riverbank,” he said.

On Sunday afternoon, Enbridge officials conducted a news briefing and reported that cleanup efforts are continuing.

“We continue to make good progress on our promise to clean up the river and the shorelines and to compensate people for damages associated with the spill,” said Enbridge President and CEO Patrick Daniel.

Steve Wuori, Enbridge executive vice president for Liquid Pipelines, said he visited the spill site and flew over the creek and river to Morrow Lake before the Sunday afternoon news briefing. He confirmed that last week the broken portion of the pipeline was removed, and it is now at the National Transportation Safety Board lab in Washington, D.C., for investigation.

“We now have about 50 feet of pipe exposed on either side of the removed section and under the guidance of the Office of Pipeline Safety, we are examining those two sections inch by inch and taking great care in the examination of the pipe before we weld the new pipe section into place,” he said.

“The cleanup of the spill site itself is going well and we now have scraped most of the contaminated soil out of the swamp area. That soil is being transported to an EPA-approved (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) disposal site. As you heard earlier, the cleanup of the creek and the river is going along well. We’re actively cleaning the creek banks and the shorelines along the river, and also actively removing sheen from the river.”

The cost of the cleanup hasn’t been determined. Enbridge is responsible for the cleanup bill, including money that the EPA and other government agencies will spend on its response.