Will oil ever be completely cleaned up?

MARSHALL, Mich. (WOOD) - Nearly seven months after 843,000 gallons of oil gurgled from an Enbridge Energy pipeline into the Kalamazoo River, the work continues.

Eighteen active cleanup sites sit along 30 miles of the river, where crews contracted by Enbridge scoop up frozen soil and haul it off to be checked for contaminants.

If the soil is toxic, it goes to a landfill approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"There is a process, a step process, to make sure the oil is cleaned up," said Christopher Haux, an Enbridge Energy operations manager. "We don't want to leave any oil here, either."

But a delicate balance exists, between cleaning up as much oil as possible, and still trying to maintain what is left of the environment. The work is invasive. This month, a team of more than 200 workers hauled away polluted riverbank, and completely restructured several streams and creeks.

The cleanup is months from completion, and estimated at $550 million.

Enbridge officials insist the company is working within state and federal guidelines, and promised to make things better. The work will carry on into the winter, spring and summer.

Crews already have recovered about 766,000 gallons of the oil, according to Enbridge.

But the EPA, in a letter to Calhoun County officials obtained by 24 Hour News 8, said while it believes Enbridge has recovered nearly all of the oil, "the EPA is evaluating whether additional cleanup needs to be performed," and "remains committed to further cleanup ... and to holding Enbridge accountable."

But Enbridge is leaving too much oil behind in areas already deemed "clean," said John Bolenbaugh, a former Enbridge cleanup worker.

"You see all the oil and sheen back there?" asked Bolenbaugh, taking our cameras on his own tour along the river in Battle Creek and Marshall. "Do you see it?

"This is a brown canvas they put over the top of areas when they're done with it."

Bolenbaugh was fired after speaking to the media about his cleanup concerns, he said. Now, he's pursuing a whistle-blower lawsuit against the company.

"They're leaving oil -- massive amounts of oil -- in areas they thought no one was going to dig up," Bolenbaugh said.

He admits to a criminal past, involving sexual misconduct for which he served time in prison. But, Bolenbaugh said, his past has nothing to do with his claims about oil in the river.

Enbridge officials wouldn't comment on Bolenbaugh's claims directly, but said they want members of the public to inform them of any oil spotted along the river.

It's likely some pockets of oil still remain, state officials acknowledge.

"We're going to be out here for some time," said Michael Alexander, a project coordinator for the DNRE. "You're going to see some sheen. People have to understand, and have to deal with that."

It's impossible to get all the oil, and there's a danger in doing too much, said Thomas Voice, the director of environmental engineering at Michigan State University.

"There will always be some residuals," he said.

Instead of trying to dig out all of the oil as some suggest, Voice said limiting exposure may be more important; long-term.

"When a surgeon goes in, they try to cut away the bad tissue if it's a tumor or something," Voice said. "But they've always got to make a judgment -- where do they stop? How much damage do you do, to get everything?"

Said Alexander: "We evaluate every site that we work on for the benefit of removing the oil, versus potential impact to habitat, before we do anything out here."

Still, Bolenbaugh's concerns remain.

"I know they can't get it all out, but they're not doing it good enough," he said. "And when you put fresh dirt over oil, that's cover-up, not cleanup."