Keystone pipeline leaks becoming more severe in recent years, U.S. data shows | CBC News (2024)

Canada

Spills from TC Energy Corp.'s Keystone pipeline have been increasing in severity in recent years, to the point that the pipeline's safety record is now worse than the U.S. average, U.S. government data shows.

Pipeline shut down after over 14,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into Kansas creek on Wednesday

Keystone pipeline leaks becoming more severe in recent years, U.S. data shows | CBC News (1)

Amanda Stephenson · The Canadian Press

·

Keystone pipeline leaks becoming more severe in recent years, U.S. data shows | CBC News (2)

Spills from TC Energy Corp.'s Keystone pipeline have been increasing in severity in recent years, to the point that the pipeline's safety record is now worse than the U.S. average, U.S. government data shows.

The 4,324-km pipeline — which is owned by Canada's TC Energy and helps to move Canadian and U.S. crude oil to markets around North America — suffered the worst leak in its history last week, when approximately 14,000 barrels of oil spilled into a creek in Washington County, Kan.

And even before the most recent event, the Keystone pipeline's safety record had been deteriorating, according to a report released last year from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GOA), a congressional watchdog agency.

  • Keystone pipeline shut after oil release into Kansas creek
  • Keystone pipeline ordered shut down after leak of 14,000 barrels of oil

"Keystone's accident history has been similar to other crude oil pipelines since 2010, but the severity of spills has worsened in recent years," the report stated.

It went on to say that similar to other crude oil pipelines in North America, most of Keystone's 22 accidents from 2010 through 2020 released fewer than 50 barrels of oil and were contained on operator-controlled property such as a pump station.

But in 2017, a Keystone leak resulted in an approximately 6,600-barrel spill in North Dakota, while in 2019, the pipeline spilled about 4,500 barrels of oil in South Dakota.

Both events — which combined, were still smaller than the spill last week in Kansas — were big enough to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA) criteria for accidents "impacting people or the environment."

"According to PHMSA's measures for these more severe types of accidents, from 2010 to 2020 TC Energy performed better than nationwide averages, but worse in the past five years," the GOA report stated.

In an emailed statement Monday, TC Energy said it has taken "decisive action" over the last several years to strengthen its approach to safety and the integrity of its pipeline system.

"We take every incident very seriously. No incident is ever acceptable to us," TC's public information officer Reid Fiest said.

As of Monday, TC Energy had more than 250 people on the ground in Washington County working to clean up the most recent spill. While the company said the oil has been contained, it has not yet identified a cause of the spill.

The Keystone pipeline system remains shut down and a restart date has not been set. The company said it will be conducting a full investigation, in co-operation with regulators, into the cause of the spill.

Pipelines are widely considered by experts to be a safer mode of crude transport than either rail or truck. Still, the risk of a spill has long been a factor cited by environmentalists and others who have opposed North American pipeline construction projects in recent years.

For example, fears about potential pipeline leaks (as well as concerns about climate change) helped stoke opposition to TC Energy's proposed Keystone XL extension. That project would have cut across Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska but ultimately had its permit cancelled by U.S. President Joe Biden in 2021.

According to the GOA report, Keystone is the only crude oil pipeline in the U.S. to have been granted a special permit from the PHMSA to operate certain portions of the pipeline at a higher stress level than is allowed under existing regulations.

As a result, since 2017, TC Energy has been operating Keystone at a higher operating pressure than would normally be allowed under U.S. rules.

However, the GOA report concluded that the 2017 and 2019 spills were not the result of Keystone's special operating pressure permit.

Rather, the report identified "construction issues" leading to the material failure of pipe or welding material as a leading factor in past Keystone accidents. It said the 2017 Keystone leak was caused by issues in the construction, installation, or fabrication of the pipeline, while the 2019 North Dakota accident was caused by defects in the original pipe manufacturing.

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Keystone pipeline leaks becoming more severe in recent years, U.S. data shows | CBC News (3)

Amanda Stephenson

Amanda Stephenson, Canadian Press reporter

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    FAQs

    Keystone pipeline leaks becoming more severe in recent years, U.S. data shows | CBC News? ›

    Keystone pipeline

    Keystone pipeline
    Operating since 2010, the original Keystone Pipeline System is a 3,461-kilometre (2,151 mi) pipeline delivering Canadian crude oil to U.S. Midwest markets and Cushing, Oklahoma.
    https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Keystone_Pipeline
    leaks becoming more severe in recent years, U.S. data shows. Spills from TC Energy Corp
    TC Energy Corp
    TC Energy's Energy division consists of power generation and unregulated natural gas storage assets. The power business consists of approximately 7,000 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity owned or under development. These assets are located primarily in Canada and are powered by natural gas, nuclear, and wind.
    https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › TC_Energy
    .'s Keystone pipeline have been increasing in severity in recent years, to the point that the pipeline's safety record is now worse than the U.S. average
    , U.S. government data shows.

    Did the Keystone pipeline oil leak become the biggest spill in history? ›

    The Kansas oil leak is the biggest in the United States in more than a decade and the largest in the 12-year history of the Keystone Pipeline. The leak in Washington County, Kansas, was first detected Dec. 7, about 20 miles south of the pipeline's Steele City, Nebraska, terminal.

    How many times has the Keystone pipeline leaked? ›

    HISTORY OF SPILLS: TC Energy's Keystone pipeline (22 SPILLS: 2010-2022)

    What was the cause of the Keystone pipeline leak? ›

    So what caused the Keystone spill? The spill was due to a combination of faulty welding and extreme pressure causing the pipeline to deform, the report states. In December of 2010, pipeline operators TC Energy discovered quality issues with many elbow fittings along the Keystone Pipeline.

    How much damage has the Keystone pipeline created? ›

    After more than 20 spills, the crude oil pipeline's Canadian owner, TC Energy, has paid just over $300,000 fines. That's 0.2% of the more than $111 million in property damage it has caused. That doesn't include the damage from its latest spill, which has yet to be totaled.

    What are the 2 largest oil spills in US history? ›

    The Santa Barbara oil spill is still the third-largest in U.S. history, after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

    Did the Keystone pipeline shut down after the oil spill? ›

    (AP) — An oil spill in a creek in northeastern Kansas shut down a major pipeline that carries oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast, briefly causing oil prices to rise Thursday. Canada-based TC Energy said it shut down its Keystone system Wednesday night following a drop in pipeline pressure.

    Where does the oil from the Keystone pipeline go? ›

    Receives crude oil supplies from Hardisty, Alberta

    The Keystone Pipeline System plays a key role in delivering Canadian and US crude oil supplies to markets around North America. It stretches 4,324 km (2,687 miles) from Alberta to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and the US Gulf Coast.

    How many oil pipelines have leaked in the US? ›

    Details. This map shows major U.S. oil and gas pipeline spills that were flagged as 'Significant' by the Federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). The map shows over 8,000 spills reported since 1986.

    How much of the Keystone pipeline is unfinished? ›

    On June 9, 2021, the Keystone XL project was abandoned by its developer. At the time of the project's cancellation, approximately 8% of the pipeline had been constructed.

    Why are people mad about the Keystone Pipeline? ›

    They argued that the pipeline posed substantial risk to the environment and that it infringed on the rights of the Indigenous people, specifically the Rosebud Sioux (Sicangu Lakota Oyate), the Nakoda, and the Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) tribes, whose lands through which the pipeline would travel, while at the same time ...

    What was the original purpose of the Keystone Pipeline? ›

    The Keystone XL pipeline extension, proposed by TC Energy (then TransCanada) in 2008, was initially designed to transport the planet's dirtiest fossil fuel, tar sands oil, to market—and fast.

    Are oil pipelines safer than rail? ›

    In 2021, there were 2,145 highway-rail crossing collisions in the U.S. that resulted in 234 fatalities and 669 injuries. The average number of people who die each year from pipeline accidents is an order of magnitude lower than just the train collision numbers.

    Is the Keystone Pipeline still running? ›

    TC Energy canceled the pipeline project on June 9, 2021.

    What are the pros of the Keystone Pipeline? ›

    The Keystone XL Pipeline will contribute to energy security, create tens of thousands of high-quality employment and local contracting opportunities as well as provide a substantial economic benefit to local communities across Canada and the United States.

    Why is the pipeline bad for the environment? ›

    Environmental damage

    Most pipelines are buried, but a wide buffer of land is required for pipeline maintenance that disturbs the soil and destroys trees, vegetation, and wildlife habitat. In the Marcellus Shale region, between 60,000-150,000 acres of forest could be cleared for pipeline development by 2030.

    What was the largest oil spill ever recorded Why did it occur? ›

    On April 20, 2010, the oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, operating in the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and sank resulting in the death of 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon and the largest spill of oil in the history of marine oil drilling operations.

    What is the largest oil spill still leaking? ›

    As of June 2022, the Taylor MC20 spill is the longest-running and second largest in US history. According to Greenpeace and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), if not contained, the tapped reserves contain sufficient oil for the spill to continue beyond 2100 before the site would be depleted.

    What is the largest by volume oil spill ever to occur in the United States? ›

    The Deepwater Horizon Explosion

    This was the largest oil spill ever reported in U.S. history. In comparison, the Exxon Valdez tanker spilled approximately 257,000 barrels (11 million gallons) of crude oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1989.

    How much did it cost to clean up the Keystone pipeline spill? ›

    TC Energy reported an annual revenue of nearly $10 billion and a net income of more than $1.5 billion in its most recent yearly report. Last week the company estimated that cleaning up and investigating the Keystone spill will cost $480 million, and said it has “appropriate insurance coverage.”

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