Enbridge focuses Michigan work on cleanup

MARSHALL, Mich., Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Primary cleanup operations following an oil spill in southern Michigan are completed, Canadian pipeline company Enbridge announced.

Line 6B of the Lakehead pipeline system ruptured in late July, spilling around 20,000 barrels of oil into Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River. The company last week received approval from U.S. regulators to restart the pipeline provided Enbridge addressed a long list of concerns along Line 6B.

The company announced that its primary cleanup effort along Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River are completed and the focus now is on restoration and maintenance of riverbanks.

"We're very pleased with the way the cleanup has gone and we've submitted documentation to the Environmental Protection Agency, of course, that supports those efforts," Enbridge President Patrick Daniel said in a statement.

Steve Wuori, the company's executive vice president for liquids pipeline, said the company began dredging operations in the waterways in order to remove submerged oil. Oil and sediment, he said, is pumped out of the water, dried and hauled to a waste facility.

"The deadline for cleanup of the submerged oil is Oct. 31st and we expect to meet that deadline," he stressed.