John Bolenbaugh Mayflower oil spill image

  • BOLENBAUGH

Citizen journalist John Bolenbaugh, the Michigan oil-spill-clean-up-worker-turned-whistleblower-turned tar-sands gadfly, spent the last week in Mayflower, chatting with residents, documenting what he saw on video, and attempting to see the ongoing spill clean-up himself.

Advertisement

Bolenbaugh worked on cleanup following a July 2010 rupture of an Enbridge pipeline near Marshall, Michigan that sent over a million gallons of heavy tar sands oil flowing into the Kalamazoo River. He was fired in October 2010 by Enbridge subcontractor SET Environmental after, he says, he refused to hide and cover up evidence of oil contamination. He later filed a whistleblower lawsuit over his firing, and settled out of court for an undisclosed sum in April 2012. Since then, Bolenbaugh has become an activist against tar sands oil, visiting spill sites and documenting what he sees while doing follow-up reports on the Kalamazoo River clean up. Bolenbaugh said he has spent over $35,000 of his own money traveling and documenting pipeline spills.

“This is my calling,” he said. “This is what I feel my purpose in life is now: to travel around and give speeches and document tar sands spills. I’ve seen the devastation first hand of what tar sands oil can do to a community.”

Advertisement

Help to Keep Great Journalism Alive in Arkansas

Join the fight for truth and become a subscriber of the Arkansas Times. We've been battling powerful forces for 50 years through our tough, determined, and feisty journalism. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, our readers value great journalism. But we need your help to do even more. By subscribing and supporting our efforts, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be helping us hire more writers to expand our coverage. Together, we can continue to hold the powerful accountable and bring important stories to light. Subscribe now or donate for as little as $1 and be a part of the Arkansas Times community.

Previous article State takes over Mineral Springs School District Next article New study finds no water contamination by fracking in Arkansas