The Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska waters in 1989 captured the attention of the world. It cost taxpayers millions of dollars. The State of Michigan has also had an oil spill disaster. It is also costing millions of dollars. One major difference in these two incidents is the identity of the culprit. Exxon was the owner of the oil, and it was its tanker that smashed against a reef in Alaska, but in Michigan, the situation and the identity of the offenders are much more opaque and murky.

The Michigan oil spill was first noticed on April 9, 2002. Huge amounts of industrial use oil were found, ultimately coating 27 miles of Rouge and Detroit River shoreline and restricting boat traffic. The amount of oil spilled is expected to reach 60,000 to 70,000 gallons when the cleanup concludes. River flora and fauna have been harmed, with 70 recorded cases of birds in contact with the oil. Birds are particularly susceptible because they ingest oil from their feathers while preening, which can lead to death.

Chemical specialists from the U.S. EPA are currently analyzing the oil in order to trace its origin, which is believed to be a factory or chemical plant along the Rouge River. No business or individual has claimed responsibility for the spill, and no source has yet been determined. It has been speculated that the spill could have easily been accidental, but with the quantities involved and the time since the incident, even the most ineptly-operated company would realize if its oil were missing. Current laws fine responsible parties three times the cleanup cost for chemical spills. With cleanup costing $3.7 million, this could prove to be a costly mistake for the group involved.

Jeannine Ansley, executive director of Friends of the Detroit River, believes the spill was deliberate and someone must have observed the parties involved. Ansley says that if the oil was dumped from tanker trucks, it would have taken the better part of an hour to release the quantities that were found. Jim Graham, outgoing director of Friends of the Rouge, said that "[i]f the oil was deliberately dumped… the person responsible for the dumping is so greedy he or she did not want to spend a few hundred dollars in order to avoid creating millions of dollars worth of irreparable damage to our rivers and to everything that lives in or around them."

Future violators might face tougher hazardous dumping penalties if State Sen. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Livonia) has his way. He is championing a bill that increases the penalties for polluting Michigan's waters. The minimum and maximum fines are to be doubled, with fines up to $50,000 per day of violation. U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, has voiced concern about the disaster and promised federal legislation.