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In article <sp961o$au5$2@news.dns-netz.com>
"Leroy N. Soetoro" <democrat-criminals@mail.house.gov> wrote:

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

An oil spill in a creek in northeastern Kansas this week is the
largest for an onshore crude pipeline in more than nine years
and by far the biggest in the history of the Keystone pipeline,
according to federal data.

Canada-based TC Energy on Thursday estimated the spill on the
Keystone system at about 14,000 barrels, or 588,000 gallons. It
said the affected pipeline segment had been “isolated,” the oil
had been contained at the site with booms, or barriers, and
environmental monitoring had been set up, including around-the-
clock air-quality monitoring. It did not say how the spill
occurred.

After a drop in pressure on the pipeline that carries oil from
Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast, the company said it shut down
its Keystone system Wednesday night. Oil spilled into a creek in
Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles (240 kilometers)
northwest of Kansas City.

Zack Pistora, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club in Kansas, noted
the spill in his state was larger than all of the 22 previous
spills combined on the Keystone pipeline, which began operations
in 2010.

“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,” he said.

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 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said drinking water
wells were not affected by this week's spill and the oil didn't
move from the creek to larger waterways. The spill was in
pastureland about 5 miles (8 kilometers) northeast of
Washington, the county seat of about 1,100 residents and no
evacuations were ordered.

Pipelines are often considered safer than shipping oil by
railcar or truck, but large spills can create significant
environmental damage.

The nearly 2,700-mile Keystone pipeline carries thick, Canadian
tar-sands oil to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas. An
arm of the Transportation Department that oversees pipeline
safety permitted operator TC Energy run the pipeline at pressure
greater than is usually allowed if the company used pipe made
from better steel.

In a report to Congress last year, the Government Accountability
Office said Keystone’s accident history was similar to other oil
pipelines, but the 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.

The TC Energy permit included more than 50 special conditions,
including on its design, construction and operation, the GAO
report said. Bill Caram, executive director of the nonprofit
advocacy Pipeline Safety Trust, said Friday that he would have
thought that the additional safety measures would have been
enough to offset the pipeline’s higher pressure.

“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,” Caram said,
noting the 2017 and 2019 spills.

Concerns that spills could pollute waterways spurred opposition
to plans by TC Energy to build another crude oil pipeline in the
Keystone system, which would have cut across Montana, South
Dakota and Nebraska. Critics also argued that using crude from
western Canada’s oil sands would worsen climate change, and
President Joe Biden’s cancelation of a U.S. permit for the
project led the company to pull the plug last year.

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.

Tom Kloza, an Oil Price Information Service analyst, said that
oil is now perceived as plentiful, “and this mishap will not
have any appreciable impact on gasoline or diesel prices.”
Prices at the pump will continue to drop a few cents a day, or
even more, and that between Canadian imports and the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve, the U.S. has enough crude to last more than
three years at current demand, he said.

Patrick De Haan, an analyst for GasBuddy, which operates a price-
tracking app, said there is pressure to repair the pipeline
quickly and keep refineries supplied, adding that “if it lasts
more than a few days, that could spell trouble."

Past Keystone spills have led to outages that lasted about two
weeks, but this outage could possibly be longer because it
involves a body of water, RBC Capital Markets analysts said in a
note to investors. Though it's possible that a portion of the
pipeline could restart sooner, they said.

The spill was 5 miles (8 kilometers) northeast of Washington,
the county seat of about 1,100 residents.

The pipeline runs through Chris and Bill Pannbacker’s family
farm. The hill where the breach happened was a landmark to
locals and used to be a popular destination for hayrides, said
Bill Pannbacker, a farmer and stockman. He disagreed with the
company’s decision to build the pipeline over that 80-foot hill
rather than bore through it, now questioning himself for
relenting.

“I wish I would have held firmer. And I bet now they wish I
would have held firmer too because I’m assuming the flow against
that bend in the pipe is maybe what caused some of the problem.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

https://news.yahoo.com/biggest-oil-spill-history-keystone-
200524707.html

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