Enbridge Reaches $177M Settlement For Kalamazoo Spill

Energy Company Must Pay Fines, Cleanup Costs And Add Safety Measures

Enbridge Energy will pay $177 million in fines, unreimbursed cleanup costs and safety measures for the 2010 Kalamazoo River spill in a settlement reached with the U.S. Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency.  The company will pay $62 million in fines and $110 million in additional safety measures.

The 2010 release of 843,000 gallons of oil from an Enbridge pipeline near Marshall, Michigan, has cost $1.2 billion to clean up. The cost to Enbridge in fines and additional safety measures pales in comparison to damage from the spill, said Mike Shriberg, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation`s Great Lakes Regional Center.

"We’re calling on Congress, the Obama administration to actually allow for higher fines and actually create real deterrents to oil spills ... You could see this as the cost of business, whereas oil spills should not be the price that communities have to pay," Shriberg said.