The pipe has been repaired. It was tested yesterday. Now, as Steve Carmody reports, Enbridge Energy officials plan to ask regulators for permission to restart the pipeline that just five weeks ago gushed close to a million gallons of crude oil.
Carmody reports:
The investigation into the cause of the pipeline break is expected to take another year to complete.
So, they fixed the problem in the pipeline, but to figure out why the pipeline broke will take another year.
In the meantime, columnist Laura Berman writes in the Detroit News that Enbridge wants to know what Michiganders think of the company. She says the company confirmed they hired Mitchell Research to conduct the survey. Berman writes:
Enbridge's big leak -- the company estimates the total volume at about 800,000 gallons -- was not only the company's biggest spill on record, but potentially a huge public relations disaster. Despite its history of piping oil through Michigan, few of us were aware of the Calgary-based company, or of its mixed record of being cited for regulatory violations in Michigan and Wisconsin related to pipeline maintenance.
Berman says the company has purchased homes in the area affected by the spill and that the CEO of Enbridge has taken up residence near Marshall, MI.
