Enbridge pipeline leaks oil in Chicago suburb

[September 10, 2010]  ROMEOVILLE (AP) -- Oil was sent onto a roadway and into a retention pond in suburban Chicago on Thursday when Enbridge Energy Partners officials said one of their pipelines in the area leaked.

"One of our guys said it looked like the Beverly Hillbillies in the opening scene when the crude is bubbling up from the ground," Romeoville Fire Chief Kent Adams told the Chicago Tribune. "This is a pretty good sized leak."

Adams said about 50 gallons of crude per minute were leaking from the pipeline before it was contained. He said the leak was stopped about 40 minutes after it was first reported. Officials with Enbridge Energy said in a news release that the line was "shut down within minutes."

Vacuum trucks were working to remove the oil and booms were put out as a precaution, the company said. Enbridge Energy said it had more equipment and workers on the way to the scene.

No injuries were reported and authorities said they have yet to determine the cause of the leak. Nearby businesses were evacuated as a precaution. Several local, state and Will County agencies responded to the leak.

Enbridge Energy Partners is an affiliate of Enbridge Inc., based in Calgary, Alberta. The company said the line that leaked in Illinois transports 670,000 barrels per day from Superior, Wis., to Griffith, Ind.

An Enbridge pipeline also is responsible for a southern Michigan oil spill reported July 26 near Marshall. More than 800,000 gallons spilled from the pipeline and a cleanup continues in the Kalamazoo River.

The Michigan spill was from a pipeline runs from Griffith, Ind., to Sarnia, Ontario.

[Associated Press]

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