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The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said Tuesday it would prohibit Enbridge Energy Partners from immediately restarting a Wisconsin oil pipeline that leaked July 27 without significant upgrades or replacement.

Restarting the 24-inch diameter pipe in the Town of New Chester would be hazardous to life, property and the environment without immediate corrective action, the federal pipeline safety agency said in issuing a corrective action order against Enbridge.

The enforcement action was taken because this was the second rupture of the line in recent years, the agency said.

On Jan. 1, 2007, a rupture of the pipeline near Atwood in Clark County allowed 1,500 barrels of crude oil to spill into the environment.

On July 27, an estimated 1,200 barrels, or 50,400 gallons, of North Dakota crude oil leaked out of the pipeline.

In last week's spill, a geyser of oil shot up into the air of western Adams County, spraying oil up to 1,000 feet from the break, covering up to five acres of farm pasture, some livestock and one acre of woodland, according to state environmental officials.

Oil-soaked soil was removed from the pasture along with contaminated soil and oil-covered trees in the woodland, said Ed Culhane, a spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources.

On Tuesday, crews finished replacing a 120-foot-long section of pipeline where the rupture occurred, an Enbridge spokeswoman said. The pipe was being pressure tested Tuesday afternoon.

Federal pipeline safety investigators found a four-foot-long opening in a pipe seam where the leak occurred. The seam was split open as much as 6 inches wide.

The break occurred west of county Highway G immediately north of S. Eagle Ave. in the Town of New Chester. The location is around 5.7 miles east of the crossroads hamlet of Grand Marsh.

Enbridge must submit a plan for restarting the entire 467-mile pipeline extending from Superior to Mokena, Ilinois in the Chicago area, the order says. In addition, Enbridge must conduct mechanical and metallurgical testing and failure analysis of the pipeline section that failed July 27, the agency's order says.

Enbridge must also review all past inline inspection reports and bring in an independent consultant to investigate the company's pipeline management plan, the agency says in the order.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday the leak in an Adams County section of an Enbridge oil pipeline extending from Superior to the Chicago area was unacceptable.

"Pipelines operate safely across the country every single day," LaHood said in a statement. "I will soon meet with Enbridge's leadership team and they will need to demonstrate why they should be allowed to continue to operate this Wisconsin pipeline without either a significant overhaul or a complete replacement."

The pipe was installed in 1998. It is one of four oil pipelines in the same corridor. The three other pipes were restarted over the weekend.

The cause of the break remains under investigation.