Field report: On the ground at the oil spill
Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the Kalamazoo River oil spill to see for myself the devastation it is causing in the communities it passes through and the impact it is having on its shores and wildlife. In short, it’s horrifying.
I was fortunate to have the good company of Democratic candidate for Governor, Virg Bernero - whom Michigan LCV has endorsed in the August 3rd primary next Tuesday – and Battle Creek City Commissioner Ryan Hersha. Hersha led the Mayor Bernero and I to various sites to explore and understand the extent of the damage to his city.
To view the clean-up effort in action, we stopped at site “D2” where there was an oil boom across the river and a host of vacuum trucks, a full work crew, and two dumpsters, one of which was labeled “oily special waste.” It was not an encouraging sign, despite the Enbridge site coordinator who assured us that things were going very well. None of us were convinced.
In order to see a part of the river that was freely flowing without a cleanup crew on hand, we departed for a bridge further up the river. There was a continual cluster of people leaning over the concrete rail as clumps of oil bobbed along, encircled by the spiraling and swirling patterns of the oil sheen reflected across the river’s surface.
The first person I spoke with was a city worker in a small vehicle patrolling the river and looking for oil-coated wildlife. He said they’d been finding animals and waterfowl regularly, which were being handled by trained wildlife staff. City Commissioner Hersha noted that he saw a tarred muskrat climbing out of the River just day the before.
Mayor Bernero was disgusted by the situation and appropriately noted that just like in the Gulf, if these oil companies have the potential to cause this degree of calamity, they must be certain to have the means to rapidly correct it.
After no more than fifteen minutes on the bridge, we had to leave as the fumes were already causing our throats to become sore. Imagine sticking your head under the kitchen sink where you store your cleaning supplies, and then taking a deep breath; that is now the smell of the Kalamazoo River.
It is reassuring to know that Bernero – and Republican candidate Rick Snyder who visited the River yesterday – are taking this disaster seriously. We need leaders who understand that these disasters will continue to happen if we don’t give our State the resources it needs to oversee these corroded pipelines. We need our next Governor, and our next legislature, to embrace the truth that the only way to ensure that we don’t have any more oil spills in Michigan or our Great Lakes is if we no longer rely on oil for our energy in the first place.
Posted by: Ryan Werder, Michigan LCV Political Director
Photo Credit: Ryan Werder
