MichiganRadio

Saugatuck watches, waits for spread of oil spill ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) - Communities along the Kalamazoo River are bracing for possible contamination from the massive oil pipeline spill in Calhoun County.

In a worst-case scenario, the oil could travel all the way to Lake Michigan.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hopes to stop the spill of some 800 thousand gallons of crude oil at the Morrow Dam in Comstock Township - about 30 miles downriver from the site of the spill near Marshall.

That's what Saugatuck Mayor Barry Johnson is counting on. His village is the last stop along the river before Lake Michigan.

"We're all concerned and there's on the news every day about what's happening down on the Gulf," Johnson says. "This is very much of a concern. But from everything we hear at this point, the leak is stopped and the spill is contained. We're going to be listening hour by hour to see how the clean-up effort is going up there."

Johnson says there are no dams in Saugatuck to prevent the spill from reaching Lake Michigan.
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