Who would have thought that Michigan would have
a serious oil problem similar to Florida. Last Sunday,
July 25,2010, people in the City of Marshall called 911
complaining of oil fumes. The police went out on the call,
but did not find anything until Monday morning when oil was
spotted in the Kalamazoo River. Marshall is a quaint town
and holds the County Court near Battle Creek. Some workers
working in the middle of the City of Battle Creek today
complained that they could smell the toxic fumes and were
experiencing headaches. Some people are highly sensitive
to this smell. I walked downtown, but didn’t detect the odor,
but I am sure it is real.
It turns out that a fifty year old pipeline is to blame.
Officials are guessing that an oil pipe has rusted and broken
somewhere in the woods near the Kalamazoo River. The pipe
is part of the pipeline owned by a company called Enbridge.
To date (four days after the discovery), the broken pipe has
not been located. They did find an elbow pipe and cap exposed
that was all rusted and corroded. The pipe is about 30 inches
round and carries about 8 million gallons of oil a day. At this
particular time, it is estimated that about 1 million gallons of oil
has leaked out.
Consequently, the FEDs have ordered the pipeline totally shut down.
(At least the oil flow could be shut-off completely.) This pipeline runs
from Indiana all the way up into Onatario, Canada. The
Kalamazoo River runs into Morrow Lake and Lake Michigan. Citizens
living near the River are concerned about the oil coming into their
homes and affecting their drinking water. Many wells are quite
shallow. Calhoun and Kalamazoo Counties have experienced heavy
rainfall within the last week so the Kalamazoo River and creeks are high
and the currents are strong. Some homes built near the River and
surrounding creeks have flooded basements. The fisherman have
stopped fishing in their favorite fishing holes on the Kalamazoo River.
Small canoe rental businesses have shut down in the height of their season.
Oil booms are in place with trucks too, but Governor Granholm says
we don’t have enough yet. They are trying to keep the oil out of
Morrow Lake. Animal sanctuaries are also being set-up on Church
property and people are being told that they can help by donating
money to help save the wildlife. Hopefully, this spill can be halted
and contained before any oil reaches Lake Michigan. Michiganders
are worried about the oil, windmills, and Asian Carp invading this beautiful
pristine and scenic fresh water lake.
Granholm this spring spent a huge amount of stimulus money in ad
campaigns to get tourists to come visit this great State of Michigan and
until now the ads were attracting many visitors. Now, we are getting national
attention with President O’bama coming to Holland for a ground breaking
ceremony for a new lithium-ion battery Korean chemical plant and for
the oil spill. Well, at least some more jobs will be created due to this disaster.
Michigan’s unemployment rate is really in the double digits.
This oil spill does, though, honestly show how fragile our infrastructure is. Roads,
bridges, power companies, and pipelines are all old. Winters are cold and harsh
on our cars, roads and pipes. The State of Michigan is also broke. A lot of
stimulus money was spent to light up and dress up the sidewalks and roads of
each main street in all the towns of Michigan. Each town in Michigan now has
the same brick, handicapped curbless cuts, and lamp posts — attractive maybe,
but soon the money will all be gone. Money was also spent to clean-up the
previously toxic Kalamazoo River.
Eventually, perhaps an inventor from Detroit will mass produce an automobile that
does not run on oil, but maybe water. We will be buying water instead or
maybe purchasing O’bama’s Volt when it drops from $40,000 to perhaps $12,000.
The technology is here, but the Statists, Oil Companies, and Wall Street are not
quite ready for the change. I have mixed feelings too, because I don’t think my
pocketbook can handle all of the needed changes. However, which is more
important, your health or your money? It’s on the horizon, and with more spills,
pushes and pulls, we will change and arrive in the 21st century. In the meantime, I can
see gasoline at the pumps and home heating oil skyrocketing this winter. Hopefully,
Michigan residents won’t freeze to death and will be able to afford a gallon
of gas to get to work if one is lucky enough to have a job. In the long run and
in hindsight, maybe O’bama is leading this country in the right direction. Yet, I
don’t agree with his socialistic and cap & tax policies. Private industry and the
free market, if given the proper economic climate and left alone, can produce
wonders!
If you are concerned about your health and all of the toxins in our environment,
please visit this site. It may just save your life and help your immune system.
Have a great day.
