Lauren Krugel, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

CALGARY - Enbridge Energy Partners LP (NYSE:EEP) has agreed to pay US$1.1 million for environmental violations related to a crude oil pipeline it is building through Wisconsin - a move an environmental group hopes will encourage companies to improve their practices.

Enbridge Energy, a U.S. affiliate of Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB), has finished the first phase of its $2-billion Southern Access pipeline, which stretches 516 kilometres from northwestern to southeastern Wisconsin.

In building the project, Enbridge Energy broke some of Wisconsin's waterway and wetland protection and storm water control laws, according to the state's justice department.

"While some of the individual violations were likely of limited direct impact, the incidents of violation were numerous and widespread, and resulted in impacts to the streams and wetlands throughout the various watersheds," Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen stated Friday.

The Enbridge settlement is the biggest since Van Hollen became attorney general two years ago, said department spokesman Bill Cosh.

"In the entire history of the environmental unit at the Department of Justice, there is only one other case that was larger than this," he added.

Erin O'Brien, policy specialist with the Wisconsin Wetlands Association, said her group will be keeping a close eye on companies planning to ship crude from Alberta's oilsands to Chicago-area refineries via Wisconsin.

"I would hope that the pipeline companies are learning from their mistakes," she said in an interview from Madison, Wis. Monday.

"A $1.1-million settlement should raise some eyebrows for them and their investors and strengthen their commitment to cleaner construction and restoration practices."

The biggest issue was around soil erosion caused by the construction, which could hinder the restoration of wetlands along the pipeline's path, O'Brien said.

"It wasn't like you saw an issue here, an issue there. It was the same issue cropping up along the corridor again and again and again."

The company quickly rectified the majority of the erosion problems cited in the settlement, said Enbridge spokeswoman Denise Hamsher.

A few problems were discovered in the winter, so the company must wait until the ground thaws in the spring to work on those, she said in an interview from Superior, Wis.

In May, Wisconsin's natural resources department urged the state's justice department to press charges for numerous environmental violations in 2007 and 2008.

Enbridge agreed to pay a $730,000 fine plus administrative fees so as not to "protract this any longer" and move on with the project, Hamsher said.

The company is working on improving its communication with the state's natural resources department, so that problems that are fixed immediately do not get documented as violations.

"This is one of the largest construction projects in Wisconsin's history. It had a very unusual and unprecedented oversight and inspection," Hamsher said.

The construction crews also had to contend with torrential rains in the spring and summer, compounding the erosion problems, she added.

The second phase of Southern Access is nearly complete, which will allow 400,000 barrels of crude oil to travel from Alberta to the Chicago area each day.

At the same time, Enbridge is building another pipeline along the route of Southern Access, called Southern Lights, which will carry diluent used for oilsands extraction from Chicago to Alberta.