BSMM8000 Final Assignment

Developing a Crisis
Communications Plan

Oil Pipeline Spill near Kalamazoo, MI

 1
Who are you?

You are a well-respected PR professional located in Michigan (just across the river from
Windsor, ON). Patrick Daniel, CEO of Enbridge Inc., has just contacted you asking if you
would please help them. A serious oil spill had just occurred west of Detroit on the
Kalamazoo River.

Mr. Daniel anticipates a great deal of “blowback”, a PR term that indicates bad public
relations consequences or suffered brand erosion because of the oil spill and environmental
damage. He has hired you to prepare a strategic Crisis Communications Plan using
everything you’ve learned in your Business Communications course at the University of
Windsor.

What is the scenario?

On Sunday, July 25, 2010, at about 5:58 p.m. EDT, a 40-foot (12 m) pipe segment ruptured
in the 30-in (760-mm) Enbridge Energy Line 6B, approximately 0.6 miles (1.0 km)
downstream of the Marshall, Michigan pump station. The rupture caused a spill of diluted
bitumen originating from Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan) into Talmadge Creek in
Calhoun County, Michigan, which flows into the Kalamazoo River. The US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) later estimated the spill to be in excess of 1 million US gallons
(3,800 m3). On 29 July 2010, the Calhoun County Health Department asked 30 to 50
households to evacuate, and twice as many were advised not to drink their water.

The oil was contained to a 25-mile (40 km) stretch of the Kalamazoo River as several
hundred workers took part in the cleanup. Regional EPA Director Susan Hedman estimated
that it would take weeks to remove the bulk of the oil from the river, several months to clear
oil from the flood plains, and several more months to clean the oil out of the marsh where
the spill originated. However, a year later, a 35-mile stretch of the river remained closed.
Originally estimated at US$5 million, by September 2011, cleanup costs passed $585
million and were expected to rise by 20 percent. The cleanup expense by summer 2012 had
totalled $765 million.

By November 2014, the total had risen to $1.21 billion.

 2
Team and Individual Assignment
Each group will prepare a 10-12 page written case report (not including title page, table of
contents, list of figures, references or appendices) in a communication strategy format (see
below and toolkit). and deliver a 15-minute ZOOM presentation to your professor (the
senior management of the company).

IN ADDITION, each member of the team will create an individual portfolio of written
business products. The portfolio must include:

• Two (2) emails of minimum three and maximum five paragraphs each or approximately
500 words. One email will be to Sr. Management and one will be to employees detailing
how you plan to address the situation presented in the case.
• Two (2) letters of minimum three and maximum five paragraphs each or approximately
500 words to different stakeholder groups affected by the events of the case.
• Three (3) social media posts of 50-100 words each + an appropriate photo targeting
different concerns stakeholders might have based on the case.
Your presentation and report will include identification of issues, analysis,
recommendations and implementation strategy in the following format:

1. Issue or Situational Background

2. Communication Objectives
3. Key Stakeholder/Audience Identification and Analysis (at least 3 different stakeholder
groups)
4. Key Messages presented in a Message Map format
5. Tools, Tactics, Techniques and Timeline for Outreach Plan (presented in chart format)
6. Measurement: How will you determine and measure if the messages have been received
by your stakeholder(s) and what their reaction was?

For full rubric, please see your course outline. For a more detailed description of a crisis
communications plan, please see the document “Crisis Communications Toolkit” on your
Blackboard site under Resources.

Making group presentations and presenting written strategies and reports is a required
component of your Master of Management program. Using the skills of each group
member to research, analyze, write and present recommendations in a cohesive and
compelling manner will be a key factor to your success in the program and ultimately, in
your career progression.

Note: In several situations, you may need to make hypothetical “guesses”. If possible, back
these up with research. If this is not possible, please explain why/how you got to the
hypothetical conclusion you did.

Eg: you should be able to identify your key stakeholders and some demographics, how to
reach them with specific communications, etc.