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XPost: talk.politics.guns

In article <sp964t$au5$3@news.dns-netz.com>
"Leroy N. Soetoro" <democrat-criminals@mail.house.gov> wrote:

So fucking what? Planes dump fuel every day. Big fucking deal.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A ruptured pipe dumped enough oil this week
into a northeastern Kansas creek to nearly fill an Olympic-sized
swimming pool, becoming the largest onshore crude pipeline spill
in nine years and surpassing all the previous ones on the same
pipeline system combined, according to federal data.

The Keystone pipeline spill in a creek running through rural
pastureland in Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles (240
kilometers) northwest of Kansas City, also was the biggest in
the system's history, according to U.S. Department of
Transportation data. The operator, Canada-based TC Energy, said
the pipeline that runs from Canada to Oklahoma lost about 14,000
barrels, or 588,000 gallons.

The spill raised questions for environmentalists and safety
advocates about whether TC Energy should keep a federal
government permit that has allowed the pressure inside parts of
its Keystone system — including the stretch through Kansas — to
exceed the typical maximum permitted levels. With Congress
facing a potential debate on reauthorizing regulatory programs,
the chair of a House subcommittee on pipeline safety took note
of the spill Friday.

A U.S. Government Accountability Office report last year said
there had been 22 previous spills along the Keystone system
since it began operating in 2010, most of them on TC Energy
property and fewer than 20 barrels. The total from those 22
events was a little less than 12,000 barrels, the report said.

“I’m watching this situation closely to learn more about this
latest oil leak and inform ways to prevent future releases and
protect public safety and the environment,” Democratic U.S. Rep.
Donald Payne Jr., of New Jersey, tweeted.

TC Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the
spill has been contained. The EPA said the company built an
earthen dam across the creek about 4 miles downstream from the
pipeline rupture to prevent the oil from moving into larger
waterways.

Randy Hubbard, the county's emergency management director, said
the oil traveled only about a quarter mile and there didn't
appear to be any wildlife deaths.

The company said it is doing around-the-clock air-quality checks
and other environmental monitoring. It also was using multiple
trucks that amount to giant wet vacuums to suck up the oil.

Past Keystone spills have led to outages that lasted about two
weeks, and the company said it still is evaluating when it can
reopen the system.

The EPA said no drinking water wells were affected and oil-
removal efforts will continue into next week. No one was
evacuated, but the Kansas Department of Health and Environment
warned people not to go into the creek or allow animals to wade
in.

“At the time of the incident, the pipeline was operating within
its design and regulatory approval requirements,” the company
said in a statement.

The nearly 2,700-mile (4345-kilometer) Keystone pipeline carries
thick, Canadian tar-sands oil to refineries in Illinois,
Oklahoma and Texas, with about 600,000 barrels moving per day
from Canada to Cushing, Oklahoma. Concerns about spills fouling
water helped spur opposition to a new, 1,200 mile (1,900
kilometers) Keystone XL pipeline, and the company pulled the
plug last year after President Joe Biden canceled a permit for
it.

Environmentalists said the heavier tar sands oil is not only
more toxic than lighter crude but can sink in water instead of
floating on top. Bill Caram, executive director of the advocacy
Pipeline Safety Trust, said cleanup even sometimes can include
scrubbing individual rocks in a creek bed.

“This is going to be months, maybe even years before we get the
full handle on this disaster and know the extent of the damage
and get it all cleaned up,” said Zack Pistora, a lobbyist for
the Sierra Club at the Kansas Statehouse.

Pipelines often are considered safer than shipping oil by
railcar or truck, but large spills can create significant
environmental damage. The American Petroleum Institute said
Friday that companies have robust monitoring to detect leaks,
cracks, corrosion and other problems, not only through control
centers but with employees who walk alongside pipelines.

Still, in September 2013, a Tesoro Corp. pipeline in North
Dakota ruptured and spilled 20,600 barrels, according to U.S.
Department of Transportation data.

A more expensive spill happened in July 2010, when an Enbridge
Inc. pipeline in Michigan ruptured and spilled more than 20,000
barrels into Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River. Hundreds of
homes and businesses were evacuated.

The Keystone pipeline's previous largest spill came in 2017,
when more than 6,500 barrels spilled near Amherst, South Dakota,
according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report
released last year. The second largest, 4,515 barrels, was in
2019 near Edinburg, North Dakota.

The Petroleum Institute said pipelines go through tests before
opening using pressures that exceed the company's planned levels
and are designed to account for what they'll carry and changes
in the ground they cover. An arm of the U.S. Department of
Transportation oversees pipeline safety and permitted TC Energy
to have greater pressures on the Keystone system because the
company used pipe made from better steel.

But Caram said: “When we see multiple failures like this of such
large size and a relatively short amount of time after that
pressure has increased, I think it’s time to question that.”

In its report last year to Congress, the GAO said Keystone’s
accident history was similar to other oil pipelines, but spills
have gotten larger in recent years. Investigations ordered by
regulators found that the four worst spills were caused by flaws
in design or pipe manufacturing during construction.

TC Energy's permit included more than 50 special conditions,
mostly for its design, construction and operation, the GAO
report said. The company said in response to the 2021 report
that it took "decisive action” in recent years to improve
safety, including developing new technology for detecting cracks
and an independent review of its pipeline integrity program.

The company said Friday that it would conduct a full
investigation into the causes of the spill.

The spill caused a brief surge in crude prices Thursday.
Benchmark U.S. oil was up more modestly -- about 1% — on Friday
morning as fears of a supply disruption were overshadowed by
bigger concerns about an economic downturn in the U.S. and other
major countries that would reduce demand for oil.

The pipeline runs through Chris and Bill Pannbacker’s family
farm. Bill Pannbacker, a farmer and stockman, said the company
told him that the issues with the pipeline there probably will
not be resolved until after the Christmas and New Year's
holidays.

The hill where the breach happened was a landmark to locals and
used to be a popular destination for hayrides, Pannbacker said.

____

Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas and Foley reported
from Iowa City, Iowa. David Koenig contributed reporting from
Dallas.

https://news.yahoo.com/federal-data-kansas-oil-spill-
175002257.html

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