TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Federal regulators proposed a $3.7 million civil penalty Monday against the Canadian owner of a pipeline that ruptured in 2010, dumping more than 800,000 gallons of oil into a southwestern Michigan river.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said the penalty against Enbridge Inc. would be the largest it has imposed.
In a letter to the company, the agency listed 24 violations of hazardous liquid pipeline regulations, including failure to fix corrosion problems in the damaged pipe joint discovered as far back as 2004.
It also said the company had failed to detect the rupture for 17 hours after it happened during a scheduled shutdown July 25, 2010.
Instead, Enbridge personnel twice restarted the line despite receiving multiple alarms and “indications of abnormal operating conditions” in its control center.
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