Pipeline Company Buying Homes Affected by Michigan Oil Spill

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The Canadian company whose pipeline ruptured and dumped hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into a southern Michigan waterway is buying two homes affected by the spill, and several other homeowners are considering buyouts, its chief executive said Sunday.

Enbridge Inc. offered to buy up to 200 homes in the 30-mile-long zone at their full-list price or appraised value before the spill to ease homeowners’ concerns. During a conference call with federal and state officials, Enbridge Chief Executive Patrick Daniel said the company was days away from buying two houses in Calhoun County.

Daniel said the two homes are along the waterfront and crude oil washed up on the property, but he wouldn’t specify the locations. He said one was listed for sale before the spill.

Others are considering Enbridge’s offer, he said.

“There have been discussions with other people,” he said. “A lot of people are still thinking about it.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that more than 1 million gallons of oil flowed into the Kalamazoo River and nearby waterways, but the company estimated the spill at 820,000 gallons. Enbridge reported the spill July 26.

Federal officials said Sunday that the ruptured section of pipeline, which was removed last Friday, arrived at a National Transportation Safety Board lab near Washington where experts were investigating what caused the leak.

The pipeline had a lengthwise rip of more than six feet, the NTSB reported in a statement. Enbridge officials said they are examining and cleaning the remaining sections of pipe and soon will weld a replacement section into place.

As of Sunday, about 3.4 million gallons of a mixture of water and oil had been removed and about 1.4 million gallons had been shipped to an Enbridge facility in Griffith, Ind., said Mark Durno, the EPA’s deputy incident commander. The water will be treated and discharged, and the oil eventually will be shipped to refineries for processing, company and government officials said.

Valdo Calvert of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said 164 oil-covered animals have been recovered from the spill area, including geese, ducks, muskrats and turtles. To date, 23 animals have been rehabilitated and released in unaffected areas, while eight of the rescued animals have died while in care.

Enbridge officials said they cannot estimate when oil flow will resume, since regulatory approval is required.

The rupture was to a 30-inch pipeline built in 1969 that carried about 8 million gallons of oil daily from Griffith, Ind., to Sarnia, Ontario.