KALAMAZOO (WTVB) -- Kalamazoo County has opened its Emergency Operations Center, and Director Paul Baker has gotten a chance to fly over the area directly impacted by the oil spill. Calhoun County has already posted signs along the river that it’s not safe to fish or have contact with the water. Kalamazoo County is expected to post their signs today.

How does this compare size wise to other big oil spills? It’s about a tenth of the size of the Exxon Valdez, and less than a half a percent of the amount of oil that has spilled into the gulf, but both of those occurred on open waterways, not on enclosed river systems.

The Spill is a blow to a group that has fought to clean the river for decades. Michael Seals, President of the Kalamazoo River Clean Up coalition says he fears the rest of the river, East of the Morrow Dam which had been clean until now, may now become an extension of their Superfund site. Their group plans to meet today to discuss how they should respond. He says his experience dealing with polluters does not give him confidence that Enbridge will be able to mitigate the environmental damage.