July 27, 2010

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Believe it or not, these incidents are almost commonplace. It's just that until the Deepwater Horizon incident, they went unnoticed.

In Michigan, nearly one million gallons of oil has been dumped into the Talmadge Creek, which flows into the Kalamazoo River.

Via mlive:

County officials said they began an emergency response at about 6 p.m. Monday after news spread that a 30-inch oil pipeline in Marshall sprung a leak and released oil into the Talmadge Creek, which feeds into the Kalamazoo River. Houston-based Enbridge Energy Partners said the pipeline has been shut down but that did not happen before more than 800,000 gallons flowed into the creek.

Kalamazoo County officials said Tuesday that local health officials are monitoring the oil spill and advised residents to avoid all contact with water from the Kalamazoo River “until further notice,” according to a news release issued just after 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“All surface water activities, including swimming, wading, fishing and boating/canoeing/kayaking, should cease,” officials said in the news release. “Additionally, due to the fumes associated with a crude oil spill, people are warned to avoid (spending) time in the immediate area around the river. This order will remain in effect until further investigation indicates that risk has been minimized.”

Said Matyas: “We’re throwing everything we have at it.”

Meanwhile, in the Gulf of Mexico...

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A tow boat crashed into an abandoned oil well near Mud Lake, north of Barataria Bay.

NPR:

Mud Lake is part of a network of bayous and lakes north of Barataria Bay, an ecologically sensitive coastal estuary where authorities have been fighting waves of oil from the spill that started in the Gulf when the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20.

Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts said he was confident the leak and spill would be stopped quickly.

"This likely can be contained today," he said in an e-mail Tuesday.

Not one single Republican supports comprehensive energy legislation. Not one. Democrats and the President are taking the heat for scaling it down, but remember this: If one Republican had looked at these disasters and decided our planet mattered more than their re-election, we would be debating comprehensive reform.

Not one Republican could do that. Not one. And the oil gushes on.

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