Enbridge Spends $7 Million On Clean-up Equipment

(RTTNews) - Enbridge Energy L.P. is planning to buy oil clean-up tools worth $7 million, in the next two years. The new tools will help the energy delivery company in case of an oil spill in Line 5 pipeline.

The Line 5 has been the focus of a controversy surrounding 63 - year old underwater pipelines. A spill in this pipeline that pumps 23 million gallons of oil per day, is feared to create a disaster in Huron and Michigan lakes.

The cleaning tools are capable of removing oil from open water surfaces. Enbridge is planning to buy oil skimmers, oil boom and containment devices that help them remove oil spill even in icy conditions.

Recently, the National Wildlife Federation has filed a lawsuit in the District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan against the Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to ensure pipeline safety that runs from Superior, Wisconsin, through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, across the Straits of Mackinac, through the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, across the St. Clair River, and then to Sarnia, Ontario.

Federation pleaded to stop transporting oil through the Line 5 pipeline. University of Michigan has warned that an oil spill in Line 5 might risk more than 17,000 square miles of open water in Straits of Mackinac.

Earlier in 2010, Enbridge was responsible for one of the largest oil spills at Kalamazoo river, Michigan. The 800,000 gallon oil spill had damaged around 37 miles of river. Clean-up cost was around $1 billion.

Enbridge stock was on the decline since June 8. However, it climbed 1.90 percent on Tuesday on the NYSE.