Feds Warned Enbridge to Improve Pipeline Safety

Crews clean up oil, from a ruptured pipeline, owned by Enbridge Inc, near booms where Talmadge Creek...

Crews clean up oil, from a ruptured pipeline, owned by Enbridge Inc, near booms where Talmadge Creek meets the Kalamazoo River in Marshall Township, Mich., July 30, 2010. The Canadian company that owns the pipeline that leaked the oil estimates the spill at 820,000 gallons. The EPA puts the total at more than 1 million gallons. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

(AP)

A federal agency says it repeatedly warned the Canadian company at the center of an oil spill in southern Michigan about problems with a pipeline network that includes the segment that ruptured.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said Saturday it raised concerns during a February meeting with executives of Enbridge Inc. The company owns the pipeline that leaked tens of thousands of gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River.

The federal agency's chief counsel said it pushed Enbridge to improve its performance with the Lakehead pipeline system, which includes the section with the rupture.

Enbridge spokeswoman Gina Jordan says the company meets routinely with regulators and tries to exceed safety requirements.

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