Michigan Kalamazoo oil spill, more trouble on the way!! Great Lakes Issues Lake Michigan Federation president Sophia Twichell says: "This is one of the greatest victories for the Great Lakes in decades. It reaffirms that people of Michigan want the highest protection for the nation's greatest waters. Now it's time to move on to other ecological threats, including beach closings from sewage overflows, invader species, water diversions, and sand dune mining." Paul Parks, an experienced engineer who has been very active in this issue, writes: "In my view we have won a major battle, but it is only part of the continuing battle to protect our Great Lakes. There are still 6 wells under Lake Michigan getting more dangerous as time goes by, due to corrosion and repeated stress. Gas/oil transmission lines are under the Lake bottom at both the Straits and St. Clair River at Port Huron. The one under the Straits is the same line that ruptured at Crystal Falls in the UP last fall. Is there any reason to think it is any safer under water? Both of these lines should be suspended under the bridges, so that leaks could be rapidly found and repaired. And the major problems of diversion, pollution, and exotic species continue. It is so important to leave the Lakes in better condition for our kids." sweetwatervisions.com/Pages/drilling.html Gov't warned company about oil pipeline monitoring BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — A Canadian company whose pipeline leaked hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into a Michigan river was warned by government regulators in January that its monitoring of corrosion in the pipeline was insufficient. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration told Enbridge Energy Partners Chairman Terry McGill in a Jan. 21 letter that its corrosion monitoring in Line 6B, the line that ruptured, did not comply with federal regulations. According to the warning, Enbridge was implementing an alternate way of monitoring corrosion in the pipeline, and had detailed to regulators the steps it was taking to track corrosion in the meantime. But the agency warned the company in the letter that it was violating code by not using a sufficient amount of certain chemicals used to protect pipe interiors, not using proper monitoring equipment to determine it those chemicals were working, and not examining its monitoring equipment at least twice a year. www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hbazNv8HPBELUpCXxcRQmCxaO3DgD9H8UATO0 Mich. Oil Leak Halted; Cleanup To Take Months www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128883471 By late Wednesday, the oil had traveled at least 35 miles downstream from where it leaked in Calhoun County's Marshall Township, killing fish, coating other wildlife and emitting a strong, unpleasant odor. It had passed through Battle Creek, a city of 52,000 residents about 110 miles west of Detroit, and was headed toward Morrow Lake, a key point near a Superfund site upstream of Kalamazoo, the largest city in the region. State and company officials had said earlier this week they didn't believe the oil would spread past a dam at the lake, and that they would be able to contain it there. But Tom Sands, the deputy state director for emergency management and homeland security, said during a conference call with Granholm on Wednesday that he had seen oil that had made it past the dam while he was flying over the area. On Thursday, EPA spokesman Mick Hans said its incident commander was in the same plane as Sands and wasn't convinced oil had passed the dam. Hans said the EPA, however, wasn't trying to take issue with the report. "We're all working together," Hans said. "Sometimes you get different technical interpretations." abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/national_world&id=7582230 GGN- News Bulletin www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEDEFKbe4GM&playnext=1&videos=TldUJl5P92E Oil Spill Threatens Lake Michigan. Finally some national coverage!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDuHf9pylnQ What's Worse: Oil or Asian Carp? www.chicagonow.com/blogs/american-princess/2010/07/whats-worse-oil-or-asian-carp.html hefeltbad www.youtube.com/user/hefeltbad

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