Trustees Begin Restoration Planning for July 2010 Oil Spill into Kalamazoo River in Calhoun County, Michigan

These Canada geese were among the almost 200 migratory birds oiled by the July 26, 2010 Enbridge Energy pipeline crude oil spill into Talmadge Creek and Kalamazoo River in Calhoun County, Michigan. Photo credit: FWS.

On March 1, 2012, the federal, State and Tribal natural resource trustees released a “Notice of Intent to Conduct Restoration Planning” for the July 26, 2010 crude oil spill from a pipeline owned by Enbridge Energy into Talmadge Creek and Kalamazoo River, near Marshall in Calhoun County, Michigan. The Notice of Intent initiates the natural resource restoration planning process.

The natural resource trustees include the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Tribe, the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of the Potawatomi Tribe, the State of Michigan, the Department of Commerce, acting through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Indian Affairs and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

A pipeline owned by Enbridge Energy near Marshall, Michigan ruptured on July 26, 2010. An estimated 843,444 gallons of crude oil were released into a wetland and nearby Talmadge Creek. The oil flowed through the Creek into Kalamazoo River and then downriver for 38 miles to Morrow Lake. Among the natural resources injured by this oil spill are: fish; mussels, mammals, turtles, birds, streams, sediments, stream banks, wetlands, vadose zone soils, floodplains, habitats and human uses of these natural resources.

Specifically, this Notice of Intent announces that the trustees have determined that they have jurisdiction for natural resources adversely affected by the oil spill and that pursuing restoration of natural resources and natural resource services injured by the oil spill is appropriate.

Further reading:

News Release (dated March 1, 2012)
Notice of Intent to Conduct Restoration Planning (dated February 9, 2012)
FWS website for Enbridge Energy pipeline oil spill NRDAR