Enbridge Energy has begun a new round of dredging in the Kalamazoo River, three years after the nation's largest inland oil spill.
The company will have to work fast to meet the government's deadline of completing the work by the end of the year.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered Enbridge to dredge an additional 350,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment.
The work will temporary close 12 miles of the river to the public. Enbridge has already removed about 190,000 cubic yards of sediment, as well as more than a million gallons of oil from the river.
The company does not yet have all of the permits from the state that it will need for the new project. Enbridge estimates that the new work, in addition to what it has already done, brings the cost estimate for the cleanup to nearly a billion dollars.
