United States v. Enbridge Energy, L.P.

A proposed modification of a consent decree concerning two 2010 oil spills that resulted from oil transmission pipeline failures near Marshall, Michigan, and Romeoville, Illinois, would establish requirements and procedures by which settling CWA and OPA defendants may seek partial termination of specified obligations under the decree; explicitly designate specified pipeline segments on Lines 61 and 62 as “replacement segments” that are subject to additional leak detection system-related requirements; establish deadlines applicable to the resumption of in-line inspections on Line 62 following a long period when that pipeline was not in service; and confirm that defendants will not be required to perform axial crack in-line inspections on the dual pipelines and associated piping prior to expiration of a time period that corresponds to one-half of the estimated remaining fatigue life of the worst potential axial crack feature that could have survived the 2017 hydrostatic pressure tests.