An oil spill in Michigan calls Minnesota's pipeline safety into question

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Oil Giant B-P hopes to begin pumping heavy mud into its capped oil well in the Gulf of Mexico today, as part of what may be a permanent fix to the oil leak there. Meanwhile in Michigan, crews continue the cleanup after a much smaller but still significant spill into a tributary to the Kalamazoo River.

The Michigan spill was caused by a failure in the Enbridge pipeline that carries oil to the United States from the Alberta tar sands in Canada. More than 14-hundred miles of that very same Enbridge pipeline runs through northern Minnesota.

State Fire Marshall Jerry Rosendahl oversees Minnesota's Office of Pipeline Safety. He joined Cathy Wurzer this morning by phone.