Last July, a 30-inch pipe transporting crude oil from Griffith, Ind., to Sarnia, Ontario, Can., began leaking near the pump station at Marshall, Mich.
An estimated 20,082 barrels (843,444 gallons) of oil leaked from the pipeline; of that, an estimated 8,033 barrels (337,386 gallons) entered Talmadge Creek and Kalamazoo River. Fearing the spill would reach Morrow Lake, an impoundment above a hydroelectric dam on the river, Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P., set up containment booms before the lake and deployed multiple vacuum trucks upstream to collect oil.
Officials, realizing the spill’s extent, called Steve Taplin, chief executive officer of Terra Contracting LLC, a remediation contracting company in Kalamazoo, Mich. He ordered the initial wave of equipment and personnel while driving the 40 miles to Marshall.
“Representatives took me to the first location and the sight was overwhelming,” says Taplin. “It had rained heavily that weekend and water in the creek was flying past. I immediately ordered more of everything.”
Enbridge, working under the direction of the U.S. Enviornmental Protection Agency and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment soon instituted a nonstop operation with many major contractors and dozens of subcontractors. Taplin’s crew placed containment booms, vacuumed or transported oil, water, and oil-water mixtures, responded with identical action to a second spill, and decontaminated most of the cleanup equipment. Four months later, clear water flowed again in the creek and river. The oil never reached Morrow Lake.
Early Hours
When Taplin saw the expanse of work, he called in people and equipment from six projects around the country. The jobs remained shut down for two weeks.
During the first few hours, Taplin stationed crews at five sites around Marshall. They operated a dozen 3,000-gallon vacuum loaders from Presvac Systems Ltd. or Wastequip Cusco Inc.; two 6,000-gallon stainless steel vacuum tankers, one each from Acro Trailer Co. and Brenner Tank LLC; and a 7,000-gallon and 6,700-gallon bulk tanker from Polar Tank Trailer. The bulk tankers have no pumps.
“The vacuum tankers would discharge into the bulk tankers, then return to pumping oil from the creek and river,” says Taplin. “The bulk tankers transported the oil-water to the growing frac tank farm for loading. We worked 12-hour shifts and the trucks never stopped running.” By that weekend, 100 Terra employees were on site. Needing more, Taplin hired staff or tapped key subcontractors for extra people.
The confluence of Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River was a key containment site. “It’s a small creek, so with EPA approval we put in row after row of boom angled to direct the oil to shore,” says Taplin. Six hundred feet of boom and six vacuum trucks were deployed at the confluence.
Meanwhile, Enbridge set up 20,000-gallon portable frac tanks at the small pump station. Taplin offered to run the tank farm, provide all paperwork, and coordinate shipments of oil and oil-water mixtures to the Enbridge facility in Griffith, Ind. “Our tankers ran 24/7 because we could switch drivers at our Kalamazoo facility,” says Taplin. “My crew also unloaded all the arriving trucks and loaded the tankers going to Griffith.”
