Deadly crash shuts down Enbridge pipeline
Posted Mar 4, 2012 4:08 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Calgary-based Enbridge has shut down a pipeline that carries oil from Canada to the U.S. after two vehicles crashed through a fence outside Chicago and struck the pipeline, causing a fiery explosion.
Police in New Lenox, Ill., say two men were killed and three others were injured in the Saturday crash.
Enbridge spokeswoman Lorraine Little says the pipeline was shut down immediately when sensors detected a drop in pressure. A second, undamaged line was also shut down as a precaution.
Both lines carry crude oil from Enbridge’s facility in Superior, Wis. to a terminal in Griffith, Ind.
Little says the undamaged line has reopened, but Line 14 remains closed and she says it likely won’t be restarted until later this week.
The line is 60 centimetres wide and carries various grades of crude from Canada, as well as oil from North Dakota. It normally transports 317,000 barrels per day.
New Lenox Police Chief Bob Sterba called the crash “horrible, horrible, horrible.”
Sterba said the five men involved in the crash were in their 20s and all from New Lenox, about 55 kilometres southwest of Chicago.
New Lenox Mayor Tom Balderman says crews were quickly able to seal an oil leak.
Officials say there should be no environmental impact and there is no danger to the public.
