Great Lakes oil proposals threaten repeat of Kalamazoo spill

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Two oil projects in the works could significantly increase the amount of heavy crude oil moving on -- and near -- the Great Lakes, causing alarm among environmentalists because they involve the same heavy oil that was behind a $1-billion oil spill on the Kalamazoo River in 2010 that remains an ecological disaster.

The company fined for that spill -- Canadian oil transport giant Enbridge -- is behind one of the new projects. Its new venture would nearly double the amount of crude oil shipped on a major pipeline from Canada to Lake Superior -- transporting more oil than the controversial Keystone XL pipeline that has caused an environmental outcry and fierce debate in Congress. The second project involves a refinery on Lake Superior's shore building a dock to load oil barges, allowing the shipment of up to 13 million barrels of crude oil per year throughout the Great Lakes to Midwest refineries and markets beyond.

Together, the projects would mean a new reality for the Great Lakes basin, heightening risks to the world's most vital freshwater source, according to environmental groups.

"Oil tankers on Lake Superior; what could possibly go wrong? That clearly sounds like a bad idea."

http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20130414/NEWS05/304140004?nclick_check=1

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