Enbridge may face record penalty for 2010 spill
Enbridge Energy is responsible for the pipeline rupture that spilled more than 843,000 gallons of tar sands oil into the Kalamazoo River and Talmadge Creek near Marshall, MI. EPA estimates that number is more than 1 million gallons. Steve Carmody reports the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has spent the past few years reviewing the events that led up to the oil spill.
PHMSA’s investigation found multiple violations of its hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations related to integrity management, failure to follow operations and maintenance procedures, and reporting and operator qualification requirements. PHMSA issued its notice and proposed civil penalty to Enbridge in a Notice of Probable Violation. The agency is proposing a fine for Enbridge of $3.7 million, which would be a record civil penalty. Enbridge has said the company expects to spend $700 million cleaning up the spill.
Michigan to receive $23.8 million from settlement of drug marketing case
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette says the state is in line to get $23.8 million as part of a $3 billion settlement of an improper drug marketing case against GlaxoSmithKline LLC, the Associated Press reports. From the AP:
The U.S. Justice Department said Monday that the British pharmaceutical giant agreed to the payment and is pleading guilty to promoting two popular drugs for unapproved uses. The federal government says the company also admits failing to disclose important safety information on a third drug. Michigan was among states that sued the company. Schuette says GlaxoSmithKline underpaid the rebates in owed for drugs paid through Michigan's Medicaid program. The Justice Department says the $3 billion combined criminal-civil fine will be the largest penalty ever paid by a drug company.
June auto sales
Analysts say U.S. auto sales continued to buck the otherwise poor economic news in June. Tracy Samilton reports:
Larry Dominique of True Car Dot Com says June car sales should be up about 18% from last June. That's a pretty healthy increase given worries about the recession in Europe and the barely moving unemployment numbers in the U.S. Dominique says he will be interested to see what kind of cars people bought toward the end of June -- when gas prices went down noticeably. "Typical of Americans we tend to have short memories, so as fuel prices go down we tend to go towards larger displacements and trucks." Dominique says Honda and Toyota had especially good sales in June. He says the two companies have largely recovered from the tsunami last spring.
