$177M Settlement Reached in 2010 Romeoville and Michigan Oil Spills

ROMEOVILLE, IL — The U.S. government has reached a $177 million settlement with Enbridge Energy after a pair of 2010 oil spills in Romeoville and Marshall, Michigan, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.

The government’s complaint alleges that on Sept. 9, 2010, an Enbridge pipeline, known as Line 6A, discharged at least 6,427 barrels of oil in Romeoville, much of which flowed through a drainage ditch into a retention pond.

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Enbridge has agreed to spend at least $110 million on a series of measures to prevent spills and improve operations across nearly 2,000 miles of its pipeline system in the Great Lakes region. Enbridge will also pay civil penalties totaling $62 million for Clean Water Act violations -- $61 million for discharging at least 20,082 barrels of oil in Marshall and $1 million for discharging at least 6,427 barrels of oil in Romeoville, the release said.

“This settlement will make the delivery of our nation’s energy resources safer and more environmentally responsible,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “It requires Enbridge to take robust measures to improve the maintenance and monitoring of its Lakehead pipeline system, protecting lakes, rivers, land and communities across the upper midwest, as well as pay a significant penalty.”

In addition to payments required under the proposed settlement, Enbridge has already reimbursed the government for $57.8 million in cleanup costs from the Marshall spill and $650,000 for cleanup costs from the Romeoville spill and Enbridge reportedly incurred costs in excess of $1 billion for required cleanup activities relating to the Marshall and Romeoville spills.

“This agreement puts in place advanced leak detection and monitoring requirements to make sure a disaster like this one doesn’t happen again,” said Assistant Administrator Cynthia Giles for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This comprehensive program – including an independent third party to audit compliance – will protect our waterways and the people who depend on them.”

Under the settlement, Enbridge is committing to the following measures, which it estimates will cost at least $110 million:

• Implement an enhanced pipeline inspection and spill prevention program;
• Implement enhanced measures to improve leak detection and control room operations;
• Commit to additional leak detection and spill prevention requirements for a portion of Enbridge’s Line 5 that crosses the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan;
• Create and maintain an integrated database for its Lakehead Pipeline System;
• Enhance its emergency spill response preparedness programs by conducting four emergency spill response exercises to test and practice Enbridge’s response to a major inland oil spill;
• Improve training and coordination with state and local emergency responders by requiring incident command system training for employees, provide training to local responders, participate in area response planning and organize response exercises;
• Hire an independent third party to assist with review of implementation of the requirements in the settlement agreement;

There will be a 30 day public comment period on the consent decree lodged today. Information on how to comment on the consent decree will be available in the Federal Register and on the Department of Justice’s website: www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.