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Enbridge Gets Regulator Approval to Restart Oil Pipeline After July Spill
News Articles | Bloomberg | Aaron Clark | September 26, 2010
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Enbridge Energy Partners LP may resume oil flow on a pipeline in Michigan tomorrow after receiving final approval from U.S. regulators today to proceed following a rupture and spill July 26.
“We are preparing to resume service” tomorrow, Terri Larson, a company spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. “Enbridge has now received final approval from PHMSA for the restart of Line 6B.”
The company’s plan “is approved to commence no earlier than the morning of Monday, September 27,” David Barrett, a director at the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration said in a letter today to Enbridge.
The pipeline was shut after it ruptured, spilling about 19,500 barrels of oil near Marshall, Michigan. The closure reduced heavy crude supplies for refineries in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Ontario. BP Plc and United Refining Co. were forced to pare production after the pipeline was shut.
Enbridge said in a Sept. 24 letter to PHMSA that the company notified Kalamazoo River/Enbridge Oil Spill Response Unified Command of its intent to restart the pipeline tomorrow. The company said it is “in a position to return Line 6B to service the morning of Monday, Sept. 27.”
Line 6B is a 30-inch pipeline, which has a capacity of 290,000 barrels a day without storage constraints, and transports heavy crude oil from Griffith, Indiana, to Sarnia, Ontario, according to Enbridge.
Tagged with: enbridge, oil spill, pipeline safety, pipeline and hazardous materials safety administration
