Enbridge answers critics of pipeline break

The company that owns the broken oil pipeline in central Wisconsin is defending its safety record, and responding to a scolding from the Obama Administration.

Soil cleanup continues in Adams County around the broken Enbridge pipeline that leaked about 50,000 gallons of light crude oil last Friday. This week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood called the accident absolutely unacceptable, and said he plans to meet with Enbridge’s leadership team so they can demonstrate why the pipeline doesn’t need a significant overhaul or complete replacement. Enbridge spokeswoman Lorraine Little contends her company is not upset with Lahood’s language.

Environmental groups, Congressional Democrats and others have been blasting Enbridge’s safety record in recent years, and say last week’s spill should make it tougher for Enbridge to get approval for some expansion plans. Little insists the company is doing better.

Little says the pipeline that broke mainly carries light crude oil and she says concerns that pipes that carry heavier tar sands crude are more likely to corrode are overblown. Federal officials have sent the pipe section that broke last Friday in Adams County, to a lab for an analysis of what caused the break.