Posted on Wed, Jan. 03, 2007

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Pipeline break sends 21,000 gallons of oil into farmer's field

Associated Press

CURTISS, Wis. - A 4-foot crack in an underground pipeline spilled about 21,000 gallons of crude oil into a drainage ditch in a farmer's field, but no major environmental damage was expected, a spokeswoman for Enbridge Energy Co. said Wednesday.

"We have recovered the vast majority of the crude oil," spokeswoman Denise Hamsher said in a telephone interview from Houston, where the company is based. "We don't expect an environmental impact. No rivers or drinking water or the public were affected."

The spill, discovered Tuesday, occurred about five miles southwest of Curtiss in a pipeline that began hauling crude oil from Alberta, Canada, and elsewhere to refineries near Chicago in 1998, Hamsher said.

What caused the pipe to crack remains under investigation, Hamsher said. The damaged section was cut out and replaced, and the line should reopen late Wednesday or Thursday, she said.

The 24-inch pipe is one of two pipelines buried at least 3 feet underground at the site of the spill, Hamsher said.

Oil spewed into a drainage ditch in a farm field in northeast Clark County and then flowed about a half mile before a drop in pressure shut down the pipeline and recovery crews arrived, she said.

The ditch helped prevent the oil from spreading over the field, Hamsher said.

Dave Weitz, a spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources, said cleanup of the site continued Wednesday with the removal of contaminated soil. The ground's frozen state helped minimize the damage, he said.

"There is no surface water impacted. No wetlands. No flowing water," he said. "It is not an environmental disaster."

Hamsher said the last rupture of one of Enbridge's major pipelines occurred four years ago. The company transports 1.5 million barrels of crude oil - or 63 million gallons - a day, she said.

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Enbridge Energy Co. http://www.enbridgeus.com