Kansas cleans up a record-breaking Keystone Pipeline leak

On Sunday, residents in northeastern Kansas held their noses as technicians attempted to clean up the largest onshore oil pipeline spill in the area in nine years.

Wednesday, a damaged link in the Keystone pipeline released 14,000 barrels of oil into a remote creek in Washington County, 175 miles northwest of Kansas City, according to TC Energy.

Last week’s spill — which was enormous enough to almost fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool — was bigger than all of the other spills of the 2,700 mile line combined, according to official data.

Since the system’s beginning in 2010, there have been 22 Keystone pipeline mishaps that leaked less than a total of 12,000 barrels, according to a report by the US Government Accountability Office to Congress last year. The majority of them took place on TC Energy property.

Outside of an agricultural village, a foul odor of oil permeated the air as cleanup staff worked in near-freezing temperatures to mop the runoff as investigators attempted to discover the origin of the breach.

Four miles downstream from the rupture, a dike was constructed to prevent oil from entering nearby streams, according to the corporation and the US Environmental Protection Agency.

A TC Energy representative said no drinking wells were damaged the business was evaluating air-quality in the area. According to county officials, no animals were killed, but people and their pets were warned against entering the stream by the state’s health and environment agency.

“We could smell it first thing in the morning; it was awful,” said 56-year-old Washington resident Dana Cecrle, who shrugged off the inconvenience. “Things shatter. Pipelines burst, oil trains derail.”

As Congress prepares to reauthorize regulatory programs, the catastrophe spurred politicians, environmentalists, and safety advocates to question whether TC Energy should hold a permit that enables pressure on the Keystone pipeline to exceed maximum limits.

Rep. Donald Payne Jr. of New Jersey, the Democratic co-chair of the subcommittee on pipeline safety, tweeted on Friday, “I’m actively monitoring this issue to learn more about this latest oil spill and methods to prevent future releases and preserve public safety and the environment.”

Since the system’s debut in 2010, there have been 22 previous Keystone pipeline spills.

“At the time of the event, the pipeline was functioning in accordance with its design and regulatory approval criteria,” the business said.

The Keystone pipeline distributes around 600,000 barrels a day from Alberta, Canada to a distribution station near Crushing, Oklahoma.

President Biden cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline’s permission last year due to environmental concerns, prompting officials to oppose the pipeline’s construction.

According to Bill Caram, executive director of the advocacy organization Pipeline Safety Trust, the cleanup of the current record spill was anticipated to be laborious and could involve scrubbing individual rocks in the creek, as the heavier tar sands oil that leaked is more toxic than lighter crude and can sink in water.

Four miles downstream from the break, a dike was constructed to prevent oil from flowing into neighboring streams.

Zack Pistora, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club at the Kansas Statehouse, stated, “It will be months, if not years, before we have a firm grasp on this disaster, understand the entire scope of the damage, and have it cleaned up.”

The permit for TC Energy includes dozens of unique requirements to adjust pressure based on ground and cargo circumstances, but authorities say the pipeline’s prior major leaks were caused by pipe design or manufacturing defects.

“When many failures of this magnitude occur in such a short period of time after the pressure has grown, I believe it is appropriate to examine that,” Caram added.

Bill Pannbacker, a farmer, was informed by the energy provider that the spill would likely not be cleaned up until after the New Year.

Pannbacker said the hill where the leak happened was a local icon and a popular site for hay rides.

“Hell, that’s life,” remarked 70-year-old Carol Hollingsworth of nearby Hollenberg, Kansas. We must obtain the oil.

»Kansas cleans up a record-breaking Keystone Pipeline leak«

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