Enbridge pipeline spills 70,000 gallons of oil in Wisconsin

70k gallons of oil spilled

Photo: The Canadian Press

Enbridge Line 5 pipeline near St. Ignace, Mich. in 2017.

Roughly 70,000 gallons of oil from a pipeline spilled into the ground in Wisconsin, officials said.

The problem was discovered Nov. 11 in Jefferson County, 96.5 kilometres west of Milwaukee, by an Enbridge Energy technician, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, citing a federal accident report.

Enbridge told the newspaper that the spill on the company's Line 6 was caused by a faulty connection on a pump transfer pipe.

The Canadian company said the cleanup was ongoing Friday and that about 60% of the soil has been removed.

Enbridge said the spill was immediately reported to regulators, though the report by a federal pipeline safety agency said the line was likely leaking for an "extended period of time.”

“We are working with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as cleanup and restoration proceed," the company said.

Phone and email messages seeking comment from Enbridge were not immediately returned Saturday.

Line 6 is a 748-kilometre pipeline carrying crude oil from Superior, Wisconsin, to a terminal near Griffith, Indiana, according to a company map.

Critics noted the spill was discovered during the same week that Wisconsin regulators approved the first permits for Enbridge's plan to move the aging Line 5 pipeline around the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa reservation. Opponents said it would still threaten the region’s watershed and perpetuate the use of fossil fuels.