Five Years of Enbridge Oil in the Kalamazoo - An Interview with Michelle Barlond Smith
Last week marked the fifth anniversary of the largest inland oil spill in the history of the United States. On July 25th, 2010, Line 6B, a 41-year old Enbridge pipeline, ruptured and spewed an estimated one million gallons of diluted tar sands bitumen into the Talmadge Creek, a tributary to the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. The spill soiled approximately 40 miles of the river and creek. We sat down with local resident and community leader, Michelle Barlond Smith, the day after the event to discuss the continuing effects of the spill on the community and how Enbridge has, or hasn't, acted responsiblly since the disaster began.
Life Support Project (LSP): What happened yesterday? And how did it go?
Michelle Barlond Smith (MBS): Yesterday was the five year anniversary of the Kalalmazoo Tar Sand River Disaster by Enbridge Energy. It went fabulous! We did a great training program, and we had our indigenous peeps walk from Marshall, Michigan, to Battle Creek. Then we joined up with them - about 200 of us, and walked to the river where there was a water ceremony.
LSP: What do you think was the biggest accomplishement of yesterday?
MBS: I saw several residents that were there, who I did not expect to see, and they were blown away. I think it woke up a lot of people that even though you are a devastated commmunity, other people care. That was amazing to see.
LSP: I know it's a lot, but can you real briefly tell us what happened during the spill? What worked and what didn't ?
MBS: What worked? Really a lot did NOT work, that was the problem. This has been a learning experience for a lot of us. One thing that I learned was to use the press. to draw attention to a problem. We had really ill children. Once we started screaming about that, and calling the press, that actually drew some attention to the situation. That allowed us to get more people evacuated - not enough, but some.
LSP: We talked with two ladies yesterday with some hard stories, but they did not want to go on camera. Maybe you could tell us some of the stories of how Enbridge interacted with the community?
MBS: The two ladies you met yesterday, one is from Seresto and one is from Battle Creek. So imagine 50 plus miles of this, along a river, you will hear these stories. It is basically, the lawyers ripped them off. They got no compensation from Enbridge, or if they got compensation it was very little compared to what other people got. Most people got nothing. The lady from Seresto lived right on the river, two houses next to her got bought out, torn down... We know the reality of it, you've got these citizens that got completely left behind. Same with the woman in Battle Creek. Literally across the street got $5,000, she was at the same distance and got very little. It was just lies after lies, after lies, whether it was Enbridge, the attorneys, the federal goverment, the State goverment.
LSP: Can anything happen now to get justice for the people? What would justice look like?
MBS: One, we need immmediate evacuations when there is a spill. No ifs, ands, or buts, evacuate the people. Get them out of harm's way. Two, outside auditors because it was just ridiculous how people got ripped off. And we need to transition off this crap! Lesson three, and for me that was one of the most important one. We need to look at solar, we need to look at wind, we need to look at every other possible route. Fourth lesson, mandatory health studies. These people are very ill. I am not a doctor, but it is obvious. And the doctors know, they are being kept silent. The scientists are being kept silent.
LSP: What would you say to a community that just had a spill?
MBS: After Mayflower, my phone rang within six hours. I told them to 'Get out. GET OUT! Get out! Get out! Get out!' Because whether you know if it is a tar sands oil leak, or regular oil, or a dilutent, whatever the spill, it is chemicals. The damage it does to the human body, you don't know. On the side of rail cars you find little placards, they say what is in there, what to do to evacuate... You do not have that with pipelines, because they run so many products through it. It is the same sort of chemicals that are on the trucks or the rail cars, but why aren't we doing that for a pipeline? That is what frustrates me.
We need to plan for these things. If you are going to be running this crap through a community, you need to be planning for this in the community. They put the pipelines by schools, by parks, it's disgusting.
Watch video from the Fifth Commemoration of Enbridge's Kalamazoo River Disaster here: https://youtu.be/F6mbMdU9Kok
