New method in Kzoo River oil cleanup

AUGUSTA, Mich. (WOOD) - They stood on fanboats, wearing white protective suits and using "stingers" to spray water along the bottom of the Kalamazoo River northeast of Augusta.

The goal: to stir up submerged oil from last year's massive Enbridge spill near Marshall and send it to the surface.

Crews have been using the technique for about a week now, according to an Enbridge spokeswoman.

The oil gets collected in absorbent boom, pads, skimmers or other tools.

"We actually empower the crews to decide what the best technique is," Enbridge spokeswoman Becky Haase told 24 Hour News 8

About 250 people are working on the submerged oil recovery process now, she said, and that number will grow. The effort is set to happen at about 200 sites where crews have identified signs .

The chosen sites are places where stirring up the oil won't cause more problems than it solves, said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency incident commander Ralph Dollhopf.

Serena Gay, who lives along the Kalamazoo River in Augusta, said that if it is not going to further disturb the natural way of the river, "then yeah, if we can get the oil out of there, that would be great."

Living just feet from the river, Gay said one of the toughest things for her family has been being forced to stay out of it.

"It's hard to look out there when it's hot and know that we can't go in yet," she said.

Gay has seen signs of the scale of the cleanup. Part of her property was used as a staging area.

The entire cleanup effort involves about 400 people on the ground, Haase said.

Past work has focused on oil on the surface on the water and the river banks. And that work continues in places where problems still exist, Dollhopf said.

After each round of work, there is a reassessment, he said. And that's what prompted the effort to remove submerged oil.

So how much of all the oil has been removed? Dollhopf said he figures it could be 90-95% or more.

The EPA has set an August 31 deadline for the submerged oil cleanup.

Even once the oil is gone, the state of Michigan will continue looking for any long-term contamination that could be left behind, he said.

But there is no deadline for the entire cleanup process to be completed.

"We're here until it's cleaned up and the agencies have determined that most of the oil is gone," said Haase, of Enbridge. "And then beyond that, we'll be monitoring the site for years to come, to make sure we did get it all. And if any spots do rise, we're there and prepared to take that on and clean it up."