Real Estate & Property Law

Oil Spill In Battle Creek

By Alan Ackerman

The oil spill in Battle Creek is deja vu.  This office had a huge fight over the Enbridge pipelines expansion.  It part, Enbridge was denied some of the necessary FERC licenses, thereby barring the utility from receiving the power of eminent domain needed to condemn certain property.  Nonetheless, Enbridge still had enough permission to build pipelines in a majority of the state.  In a true public health crises, we now have Enbridge pumping 800,000 gallons of oil into a major state waterway system. If the oil spill is not contained, the effect will have a negative impact to other states bordering lake Michigan.  This is truly a shame.

detnews.com

More than 20 homes have been evacuated

EPA officials in Chicago's regional office declined to say it is the largest spill. "It certainly is one of the largest in recent memory in the Midwest," EPA Spokesman Mick Hans said.

Schauer also took issue with the handling of the pipeline rupture by the company that owns the line, Enbridge Liquid Pipelines.

"I want to find out how the hell this happened," he said. "I am especially concerned about the response of the company and whether their estimates are accurate."

Early estimates of the amount of oil that have spilled from an underground pipeline hovered around 840,000 gallons. Schauer said the spill is now being investigated by the EPA as well as the National Transportation Safety Board.

Full post as published by National Eminent Domain Blog on July 28, 2010 (boomark / email).