Kansas officials revealed on Tuesday that no timeline has been set to restart the Keystone pipeline, as its owner TC Energy has said the cleanup of the recent leak will take “several more weeks.”
The Canada-United States (US) pipeline was shut down after a spill of about 14,000 barrels of Canadian crude was found in Washington County, Kansas last week. The pipeline, which transports 622,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Canadian crude from Alberta to American refineries in the Midwest and the Gulf Coast, had received a special permit to operate at a higher rate than any other crude pipeline in the country.
There was a Keystone oil spill this week in Kansas that's the largest for an onshore crude pipeline in over 9 years, and by far, the biggest in the history of the Keystone pipeline. This should be much bigger news. pic.twitter.com/Q9kuklveUS
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) December 10, 2022
Following a meeting between TC Energy and the county officials on Monday, Washington County’s emergency management coordinator, Randy Hubbard, said, “They told us they expected to be here for several more weeks,” adding, “They didn’t qualify what that is.”
As per the US Department of Transportation regulations, the impacted 155-kilometre-long segment of the pipeline cannot resume oil supplies until the authorities accept a restart plan in its entirety. To this end, the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) disclosed that TC Energy has not yet submitted a restart plan. PHMSA also said the company must decrease the operating pressure by 20% inside that segment.
Keystone pipeline received a special exemption from PHMSA allowing portions of the pipeline to operate at higher stress levels—outside of those allowable by regulations—including the portion through Kansas. The exemption should be revoked. We need stronger pipeline regulations.
— Lindsay Vaughn (@Lindsay4KS22) December 11, 2022
In its latest update, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said about 317 people from TC Energy and other state and local agencies are on the ground, adding that the crews have recovered 2,598 barrels till now, of which 2,163 barrels of oil-water mixture were retrieved from the Mill Creek and 435 barrels of oil directly from the pipeline.
“TC Energy crews have built a second earthen underflow dam to provide structural relief to the earthen underflow dam that was constructed last week,” the EPA said.
Washington Commissioner Raleigh Ordoyne lauded TC Energy’s cleanup efforts, saying it couldn’t be “any better.”
“In a time where nobody stands behind their product, or nobody takes accountability for actions or for a fault, TC Energy has come in and taken care of business,” he noted.
Our commitment to the community is that our response efforts will continue until we have fully remediated the site.
— TC Energy (@TCEnergy) December 13, 2022
TC Energy has not yet identified a cause for the leak and is still investigating. However, Kansas State Representative Lisa Moser said that sabotage has been ruled out, and that vacuum trucks are continuing to suck oil out of Mill Creek, but skimmers, which are used for collecting surface water, are not working well due to cool temperatures.
In an update, the company noted, “Rainfall in the area has not had a negative impact on containment on site,” adding that its vacuum trucks and crews were operating “around the clock.”
“Multiple booms are set up downstream of the release point to contain the oil from moving downstream; oil has not breached the containment area,” it stressed.
#3 The closer we got to the site, the smell of crude oil was very evident. We found about 15 dead fish at the closest site to the spill, however cause of death is not yet conclusive. We turned the information over to Kansas Dept. of Health & Environment.
— Friends of the Kaw - Kansas Riverkeeper (@FriendsoftheKaw) December 11, 2022
Moser also revealed that the leak has impacted five landowners directly, while nine more have staging areas for TC workers on their properties; all 14 will receive compensation.
As per officials, no one was evacuated and drinking water has not been affected, as the pipeline does not connect with any drinking water resource.
In a statement, TC Energy said, “Over the last several years, we have taken decisive action to implement measures to strengthen our approach to safety and the integrity of our system and will conduct a full investigation into the root cause of this incident, in cooperation with regulators.”
Now, that’s not to say there weren’t things dissolved in the water that we couldn’t visually detect. And it’s not to say that the long term impacts won’t be significant. This is a BIG oil spill. But, for now, the surface impact seem relatively concentrated to a small area.
— Dr. Amy Burgin (@burginam) December 11, 2022
According to the Department of Transportation, last week’s leak was the largest on the Keystone line since it began operations in 2010 and was also the largest onshore spill since a Tesoro Corp. pipeline rupture in North Dakota leaked about 20,600 barrels in September 2013. The PHMSA ordered TC Energy to take “corrective actions” on the 36-inch pipeline last week.
The company has vowed to fully comply with regulators and not resume operations until it has “fully remediated the site.”
However, this was not the first oil leak in the Keystone system. In fact, according to a Government Accountability Office report, between 2010 and 2020, Keystone leaked about 11,975 barrels of crude oil, with 22 accidents. Combined with last week’s incident, it has spilt over one million gallons of oil. It also noted that the leaks have “worsened,” especially in the last five years.
The report said 12 of the 22 leaks between 2010 and 2020 released fewer than two barrels of oil, while four others released over 50 barrels each and six met the government’s criteria for accidents “impacting people and environment.”
- #US #Naturalgas futures rose more than 6% yesterday, on forecasts for colder-than-usual weather spreading across the US throughout #December, threatening to shrink stockpiles at a faster pace as #global supplies remain tight.
— Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers Limited (@rathi_online) December 14, 2022
President Joe Biden cancelled a permit to build another 1,900-kilometre-long pipeline called Keystone XL across Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska last year after a 14-year struggle over concerns that oil spills could contaminate water resources.
US crude futures rose by over 6% this week, partly because of supply concerns related to the shutdown. Meanwhile, TC Energy shares have increased by 0.8% since making the spill public.