On July 26th, a pipeline erupted in Marshall, Michigan, USA causing the release of some 800,000 gallons of oil. The main areas of contamination were Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River. At the Calhoun County Board of Commissioners meeting in Marshall on November 18, many citizens voiced their displeasure with the clean up of the oil spill.

One lady held up a soda bottle filled with oil from one of the sites which she said had been approved by the EPA as “clean”. She stated that Enbridge (owner of the pipeline) “was being very deceitful in their clean-up efforts”. Another lady from Battle Creek, Michigan, said that Enbridge had made promises that, after the clean-up, the river would be left as good or better than it was before the spill. “We need to stand up to Enbridge”, she stated, “and not accept their lies”.

Another lady asked to be allowed to work on the Kalamazoo River Task Force as she was very involved in the oil spill. One lady said she had taken over 22,000 photos of the oil spill. A war veteran stated that he fought for everyone and now someone needed to stand up and fight for him to make sure Enbridge cleaned up the spill correctly.

A gentleman approached the Commissioners and began spewing threats at the Commissioners. He said the Commissioners refuse to do anything. He gave the Commissioners two weeks to do something and then he would be back. He stated that he was going to make the Commissioners do something.

On November 12, Enbridge released a progress update of the oil spill clean-up efforts. Enbridge stated that it has met the deadlines set by the EPA for primary cleanup of the source site, Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River and submerged oil sites. However, operations and maintenance work continues at 92 sites along the Kalamazoo River and Talmadge Creek, which includes active work and monitoring sites. Sign off has been received on 50 of these sites.