Controversy over Enbridge’s dredge pad site is causing the company to ask the United Stated Environmental Protection Agency for an extension to complete dredging of the Kalamazoo River.
Senior vice president of operations for Enbridge, Rich Adams asks for the EPA to extend its deadline past Dec. 31, 2013.
“ Enbridge’s preparation for dredging in the Delta and Morrow Lake area has been discontinued due to an unanticipated issue with securing a dredge pad site ,” Adams says.
The cleanup work is required by EPA’s March 2013 administrative order, which requires Enbridge to complete additional dredging by the end of the year above the Ceresco Dam, upstream of Battle Creek and in the Morrow Lake Delta.
While dredging is underway, 12 miles of the river will be temporarily closed.
Enbridge will dredge approximately 350,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment during this phase of the cleanup.
During the past three years, nearly 190,000 cubic yards of oil-contaminated material and 1.15 million gallons of oil have been recovered from the river.
On July 26, 2010, Enbridge reported that a 30-inch pipeline ruptured near Marshall, Michigan – contaminating Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River.
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Dredging Today Staff, August 9, 2013