Enbridge's Line 5 project put on pause following natural gas liquids spill, response work continues

On Saturday, Enbridge provided an update to the response efforts being conducted following a third-party line strike that resulted in a natural gas release in Saxton on Tuesday.

Enbridge said crews are moving specialized pieces of equipment into place to help with the plan to safely remove remaining vapors from the impacted section of pipeline.

Crews plans to use trailer-mounted flare stacks to burn excess hydrocarbon vapors in a controlled and planned manner.

Extensive air monitoring will continue during this time at the flare site, incident site, and surrounding area. The half-mile evacuation zone around the impacted area remains in place, along with the no-fly zone over the site.

Enbridge said about 31,000 barrels of primarily propane and butane have vaporized and dispersed into the atmosphere.

Earlier in the day, Enbridge announced that all work on their Line 5 reroute project will be put on pause for a 48-hour period beginning Monday, August 31st.

This comes after Enbridge met with the Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on Friday to discuss the ongoing response to the natural gas liquids release.

The pause will be to conduct a project-wide safety stand-down for construction workers. Enbridge said this “will reinforce our existing safety practices and identify opportunities to further enhance our strong safety culture.”

Prior to Monday’s stand-down, the construction sites will be secured for a scheduled rest day on Sunday.