As everyone reading this surely knows by now, today is the third anniversary of the spill in Marshall. To mark the occasion, lots of journalists and others have filed lots of fine work, looking back and assessing the current state of the Kalamazoo cleanup and Enbridge’s other ongoing operations in the state. We already posted to Pulitzer Prize winner Dave Hasemyer’s terrific piece over at Inside Climate News. If you haven’t already, be sure to checkout the accompanying slideshow.

Several other notable items have since appeared, including Lindsey Smith’s first-rate Environment Report. In fact, of everything we’ve seen so far, this is the one that has us worked up the most. That’s because Jason Manshum, apparently saved his best (by which we mean his worst) material for this special occasion. We’re used to his dissembling and his vacuities, but today, he’s outdone himself. Here’s what he told Lindsey Smith:

“You know, I would love to say that we have done the following ten items that will ensure there are no leaks again. I would love to tell you that. But I can’t. We’re dealing with mechanical equipment and any time you deal with mechanical equipment there’s a chance for some sort of failure,” says Manshum.

See what he’s doing here? He’s pretending like the Marshall spill was just a matter of some inevitable, albeit regrettable, failures of “mechanical equipment.” ‘Cuz let’s face it, sooner or later, your lawn mower is going to break down. That’s clever, we admit. But it’s also counter-factual– which is why it is so very important that everyone, every single citizen of the state of Michigan and beyond, should read the NTSB report. Because if and when they do, those citizens will learn that the spill in Marshall (how many times do we have to say this? seriously, how many?) was NOT a matter of mechanical problems, technological failures or whatever dishonest, evasive line Enbridge reps like Jason Manshum still to this day try to peddle to an under-informed public. No, the NTSB report makes it crystal clear that humans– humans working for and trained by Enbridge– failed, again and again. The fact that the Jason Manshums still try and pretend otherwise at this late date does nothing more that belie their rhetoric of taking full responsibility for what happened in Marshall on this day three years ago.

Another outstanding piece of journalism is now posted over at The Uptake. It’s a video report by Jacob Wheeler, another fellow of the IJNR Kalamazoo River Institute. Both the video and the written piece are very good, so be sure to read and watch. We’re also glad to see that it’s been picked up by a handful of outlets, as it merits a wide audience. The video features a number of our favorite people, including Beth Wallace, Susan Connolly, Deb Miller, Dave Gallagher, and Josh Mogerman. In fact, if you check out the version of the story over at the Glen Arbor Sun, there’s a downloadable picture of Josh in his adorable red cap. Oh, and if you stick around the video until about the 8:40 or so mark, you might see us saying a few words…

Speaking of Josh Mogerman, he’s got a wonderfully pithy blog post up over at the NRDC Switchboard, which includes a whole bunch of links worth clicking on.

Lastly, the Detroit News (almost always lagging behind, if we’re being honest) has a bit more on that interesting Bell’s Brewery lawsuit story.

Happy reading!