It’s been a little more than a year since a pipeline owned by Enbridge Energy broke and spilled more than 840,000 gallons of tar sands oil into Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River.
Local man Craig Ritter described the scene to Michigan Radio’s “The Environment Report” this way:
“The river was black. You couldn’t hear the water. The water was going over the rocks didn’t sound like water going over the rocks. It almost sounded like a kid sucking on a super-thick milkshake.”
He went on to make milkshake noises to the reporter.
The river’s condition has improved since then. The surface is clear for the most part, but if you look to the bottom, you’ll see a layer of thick, tar-like oil sand. This has stopped people from fishing and swimming in the area.
As cause-effect relationships go, the oil spill has also caused people to vacate the area. In what I’m going to call the “run-for-the-hills” effect, people have been uprooting themselves entirely and relocating.
After the spill, Enbridge approached property owners and offered to buy the properties of those who no longer wished to live in the area. The company has bought 138 homes and properties and settled more than 2,300 damage claims to date, according to “The Environment Report.”
Some have been unhappy with the results, because all dealings have been with Enbridge directly, foregoing the use of a third-party and “fair dealings.”
It should be noted wildlife has been dealt a heavy blow as well. Fish and insects have shown significantly decreased numbers in the affected areas. The change in the populations of insects fish and birds usually feed on will undoubtedly create a hole in the food chain that will create a lot of unforeseen consequences in the years to come.
I think something like this should never happen. The United States’ oil reliance is completely absurd. We should devote more research dollars in an effort to lower this reliance. The fact we’re destroying the world we live in so we can ship food or get from one point to another seems a bit counter-productive. While it might only affect us in a minor way, we have to look to the future.
What kind of world are we going to be leaving for our children, and for their children?
Our grandparents didn’t have the means to prove we’re slowly and cancerously destroying the place we call home. The ozone is depleting, and pollution and deforestation are ruining environments everywhere.
What are we doing to fix it? I can honestly say I don’t know. Politicians are too busy worrying about making sure they stay in office next term to think about anything other than their campaigns, and those in power are busy in a muck of legislation that will never be passed.
We need to do something about this, and we need to do it now, rather than later.
