Michigan Oil Spill

Image by John Grap, Battle Creek Enquirer

As if the Gulf of Mexico oil spill wasn’t enough, an oil spill that occurred in Michigan Monday is already proving to be disastrous.

The spill in Marshall, Michigan came at the heels of the Gulf’s 100th day since the spill. Even now, 100 plus days later, BP and others involved in monitoring the oil rig face criticism for their response to the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The events surrounding the Michigan spill already seem all too familiar.

As of Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates more than 100 million gallons of oil may have spilled into Talmadge Creek. The creek runs into the Kalamazoo River, already contaminated, and many fear the oil will soon reach Lake Michigan. The company that owns the pipeline, however, believes a little more than 19 thousand barrels leaked.

Like Wall Street Journal’s Matthew Dolan writes, a lot of finger-pointer is happening as a result of the spill. Even though the pipe was capped relatively quickly compared to the Gulf,  Governor Jennifer Granholm is even criticizing the response effort.

Many believe the response to contain the oil has been slow, and many fear what consequences lie ahead.

I believe company officials, the government and volunteers will and should do what they can to help contain the oil and save the wildlife. Yes, we can criticize and point out what was not effective, but we need to look ahead to do what we can to save our environment. These situations clearly prove oil companies and the government need more sound emergency plans for when spills happen. I am not justifying these spills or actions taken, but I do believe actual emergencies are always different from the practice responses these organizations probably trained with. No situation is like the other and the true test of efficiency, concern and preparation is how the government and these companies handle these tragic events.

If you would like to volunteer or donate to help clean up the Michigan Oil Spill join the Kalamazoo River Oil Spill Facebook group.