Read and listen to the second and third reports in this series.

Updated Friday, July 8th: The Battle Creek Enquirer reports that Enbridge Energy has offered a plan to make improvements at five locations along the Kalamazoo River that were affected by the oil spill in July 2010. A company hired by Enbridge presented the plan to Calhoun County commissioners. He says the goal is to help restore recreational use of the river that was severely restricted after the disaster.

Original story: Later this month will mark the first anniversary of the Kalamazoo River oil spill. A broken pipeline near Marshall dumped nearly a million gallons of crude into the river in the largest disaster of its kind ever in the Midwest. The spill has affected the region in many ways. Some residents had to move out of their homes and property values plummeted in some areas. Others suffered health problems caused by chemical fumes. Some businesses also took a hit. Diane and Mark LeBlanc have operated the Shady Bend Campground on the river in Augusta for over two decades. But as WMUK correspondent Chris Killian reports, they won't be open this year: just one example of the continuing negative effects of the environmental disaster:

(Air boat sounds)

The roar of a riverboat's large slicing fan blades cuts through the air at Shady Bend Campground off M-96 in Augusta, slowly powering the boat westward down the Kalamazoo River where workers will scout for oil sheen contamination. Usually the campground would be bustling this time of year with campers occupying nearly every space. They would come from all over the United States and from several countries, taking a respite on this quiet 3,000-foot stretch of the river; some for a few days, others for the whole summer.

But not this year. Owners Mark and Diane LeBlanc have been forced to shutter the campground for the first time since they purchased it 21 years ago, an example of the long-term negative effects of last summer's massive Enbridge oil spill. The reason for the closure? A "no contact" advisory for the river in Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties remains in effect nearly a year after the July 26th spill. What's foremost on Diane's mind now is whether she can get her business back to the level it's seen for over two decades.

[Diane LeBlanc] "My biggest fear? Is how long it's gonna take to get my business back up. This is, this is pretty bad. Our campers come here to utilize the river."

Mark agrees. Opening up, he added, would be impossible given the conditions still present on the river and at his campground.

[Mark LeBlanc] "That would be like buying tickets to go to Disney World or Cedar Point and getting there and saying yeah, you can come in here and look at everything but you can't ride the rides. You know, how many people would they get?"

Mark walks around a large peninsula that juts out into the river. A few trucks with boat trailers attached to them are parked nearby next to areas were last year decontamination booths stood.

Enbridge is renting Shady Bend from the LeBlancs, using it as a staging area for river work this summer. That provides the couple with much needed income to help pay the bills. But they still have an open claim out against the company. Mark says that he has no bad blood with Enbridge, but he is out of a work because of the spill.

[Mark LeBlanc] "This is our job. This is our livelihood and retirement. So they basically...they didn't do it on purpose, it's just something that happened, but we're out of a job now, so."

The claim that the LeBlancs have out against Enbridge is only one of 113 still pending against the pipeline giant. To date, nearly 2,400 - dealing in everything from property damage to medical bills - have been closed, according to Jason Manshum, spokesman for Enbridge.

[Jason Manshum] "It is our goal, along with everyone else, to get the river open as quickly as possible with the health and safety of the community as priority number one. When it does re-open we want to make sure it's safe for everyone so that they can reuse it whether it's for camping, boating, fishing. We are working diligently with those organizations to get that river open so they can then resume business as quickly as possible. It's in their best interest and our best interest as well to get them back operational."

As much as the LeBlancs believe that Enbridge is doing all it can to bring the river back as fast as possible, it still tugs at Diane's heartstrings to know that she won't be seeing her campers this year, won't be sharing old memories and won't be creating new ones. The spill took that away from her, and she can't think about what this summer will be like without getting emotional.

[Diane LeBlanc] "I can't do that without crying. My campers still call me. When we found out this was gonna happen this year I had the job of actually, our youngest daughter did our answering machine for me because I couldn't do it. And then I posted it on the Website and then I had to call campers that had been with us for 20 some years and let them know it wasn't gonna happen. So that was hard."

For WMUK, I'm Chris Killian.