Projects: Oil and Water

On July 26, 2010, catastrophe struck the Kalamazoo River. A crude oil pipeline owned by Enbridge Energy Partners LP ruptured near Marshall, sending nearly a million gallons of oil into Talmadge Creek and then into the river. Thick crude spread more than 30 miles downstream, coating thousands of animals, trees, vegetation and floodplains. State officials estimate it won’t be until 2015 that the river will be back to normal.