| Kalamazoo River oil spill | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Oil sheen near Ceresco Dam | |
 | |
| Location | Talmadge Creek and Kalamazoo River, Calhoun County, near Marshall, Michigan |
| Coordinates | 42°15′27″N 84°59′35″W / 42.25743°N 84.99307°W |
| Date | July 25, 2010 |
| Cause | |
| Cause | Ruptured pipeline |
| Operator | Enbridge Energy |
| Spill characteristics | |
| Volume | 877,000 to 1,000,000 US gal (3,320 to 3,790 m3) |
| Shoreline impacted | approx. 25 mi (40 km) |
The Kalamazoo River oil spill occurred in July 2010 when a pipeline operated by Enbridge (Line 6B) burst and flowed into Talmadge Creek, a tributary of the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Michigan. A 6-foot (1.8 m) break in the pipeline resulted in one of the largest inland oil spills in U.S. history (the largest was the 1991 spill near Grand Rapids, Minnesota[1]). The pipeline carries diluted bitumen (dilbit), a heavy crude oil from Canada's Athabasca oil sands to the United States.[2] Cleanup took five years.[3] Following the spill, the volatile hydrocarbon diluents evaporated, leaving the heavier bitumen to sink in the water column. Thirty-five miles (56 km) of the Kalamazoo River were closed for clean-up until June 2012, when portions of the river were re-opened. On March 14, 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered Enbridge to return to dredge portions of the river to remove submerged oil and oil-contaminated sediment.
- ^ Laduke, Winona (3 March 2017). "Happy Anniversary: The largest inland oil spill in U.S. history happened in Minnesota". Grand Rapids Herald-Review. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
- ^ "The Dilbit Disaster: Inside The Biggest Oil Spill You've Never Heard Of". InsideClimate News. 2015-11-19. Archived from the original on 2019-01-27. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
- ^ Mikulka, Justin (February 1, 2018). "The Oil Industry and That Amazing Floating Tar Sands Oil". Desmog. Archived from the original on January 26, 2019. Retrieved January 26, 2019.