Enbridge pipeline spills 70,000 gallons of oil in Wisconsin

OAKLAND, Wis. — About 70,000 gallons (264,978 liters) of oil from a pipeline spilled into the ground in Wisconsin, officials said.

The problem was discovered on Nov. 11 in Jefferson County, 60 miles west of Milwaukee, by a technician from Enbridge Energy, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported: citing a federal accident report.

Enbridge told the newspaper that the leak on the company’s Line 6 was caused by a faulty connection to a pump transfer line.

The Canadian company said the cleanup was underway Friday and about 60% of the soil had been removed.

Enbridge said the spill was immediately reported to regulators, although a federal pipeline safety agency report said the line likely leaked for an “extended period of time.”

“We are working with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as cleanup and restoration efforts continue,” the company said.

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

Line 6 is a 450-mile (748.3 km) pipeline that carries crude oil from Superior, Wisconsin, to a terminal near Griffith, Indiana. according to a company card.

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