By Phaedra Friend Troy
Following an oil spill from a section of its Lakehead pipeline system in Michigan, Enbridge Energy Partners (NYSE:EEP) has captured some 13,000 barrels of oil in its clean-up efforts.
The company has pledged to pay all legitimate damages caused by the oil spill, claiming that there is “no need” for people affected by the spill to sue Enbridge to get paid on claims.
“I want to emphasize what I have from the outset, that we are going to make this right, and that we are responsible,” said Patrick Daniel, president and CEO of Enbridge. “I have said before in prior calls that no one has to sue Enbridge to be kept whole. We will pay all legitimate damages to people affected by this spill.”
Furthermore, the company has offered to buy all properties within 200 feet of the spill on the Kalamazoo River. The company said that it will pay asking price on all properties that were up for sale before the spill, as well as pay a before-spill appraisal price on properties that were not up for sale, but want to sell now. The offer to buy the homes is open for one year of the spill date.
The Line 6B pipeline leaked an estimated 19,500 barrels of crude oil on July 26, and Enbridge quickly worked to close the pipeline and begin the oil spill clean-up process.
Additionally, the company is investigating the cause of the spill, and the pipeline remains closed until the cause has been determined and the pipeline has been fixed.
Spanning some 1,900 miles, the Lakehead pipeline system is the US portion of the longest pipeline in the world. The damaged pipeline section, Line 6B is a 30-inch-diameter pipeline that transports up to 190,000 barrels per day of light synthetics, heavy and medium crude oil from Griffith, Indiana, to Sarnia, Ontario, in Canada.