Granholm tours Kalamazoo River disaster

WEST MICHIGAN (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – Governor Jennifer Granholm was in West Michigan Tuesday night, seeing the disaster up close for the first time.

Granholm toured the Kalamazoo River Tuesday night as officials briefed her on what's happening. She's says it's worse than she first thought.

Earlier on Tuesday directors of emergency management for Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties officially declared a state of emergency.

The environmental disaster grows by the second, as of Tuesday night, it covered more than 16 miles of the Kalamazoo River.

The spill started near Marshall after a pipeline ruptured and sent over 800,000 gallons of oil spewing into a creek that connects with the Kalamazoo River.

The oil has already reached Kalamazoo County and Newschannel 3 has gotten reports that the oil has reached as far as Plainwell that oil is starting to wash up there as it heads west toward Lake Michigan.

Public safety officers say they weren't expecting the oil to make it that far until Wednesday.

Tuesday afternoon, the President and CEO of Enbridge Energy, Pat Daniel said the crude oil spill is estimated to have been 19,500 barrels. He said the response effort was immediate.

Daniel said that 43,000 feet of boom has been deployed in the Kalamazoo River and surrounding creeks. 21 boats and 30 vacuum trucks are working to collect the oil.

Governor Granholm got an eagle eye view of the spill from helicopter.

Newschannel 3 asked Governor Granholm what she thought of the spill response from Enbridge Energy.

"I'm a lay person, but from my perspective the response has been anemic," said Granholm.

Granholm said she feels Enbridge has underestimated the spill. She was told the oil had traveled just 16 miles down the Kalamazoo River and was nowhere near Morrow Lake, but Granholm says the oil is within four miles of Morrow Lake.

She says more boom and vacuum trucks need to be on site immediately.