SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Energy companies in North America are spending more on new oil pipelines to the detriment of aging structures underground, an advocate warned.
Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge is scrambling to deal with a series of failures on its oil pipelines in the United States. Josh Mogerman, a communications director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the Chicago Tribune that older pipelines in the country were getting neglected.
"We've seen this headlong rush to develop newer pipelines but we've not seen an investment in these (older) legacy pipelines, which need upgrades," he said.
Illinois has become the Great Plains energy hub with thousands of miles of pipelines crisscrossing the state. The federal government said only six U.S. states host more underground pipelines than Illinois.
Carl Weimer, executive director at Pipeline Safety Trust, told the newspaper that the pipeline industry in Illinois lacks effective regulations to prevent accidents.
Workers for Enbridge spent Monday repairing a section of the Lakehead pipeline system in Illinois that spilled more than 6,000 barrels of oil across suburban Romeoville. Another section of the Lakehead system, Line 6B, ruptured in July, dumping roughly 20,000 barrels of oil into the waters of southern Michigan.
Enbridge and its Canadian rival TransCanada are lobbying for a new pipeline system that would move crude oil through Illinois from Canadian oil fields.
