Posted on Dec 8, 2022
Keystone pipeline spills in Kansas, dirtying creek and causing oil prices to spike
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Canadian company TC Energy estimated that 14,000 barrels of oil spilled near the Kansas-Nebraska border.
An oil spill in north-central Kansas fouled a creek Wednesday night and prompted the emergency shutdown of a major international pipeline.
People in Washington County, just south of the Nebraska border, woke Thursday morning to the smell of gas, the county’s emergency management agency wrote on social media.
Canadian company TC Energy didn’t answer questions Thursday morning about the Keystone pipeline leak and how far the oil traveled downstream in Mill Creek.
It pointed to a press release instead.
“We have shut down the Keystone Pipeline System and mobilized people and equipment,” the statement said. “The affected segment has been isolated, and booms deployed to control downstream migration.”
An oil spill in north-central Kansas fouled a creek Wednesday night and prompted the emergency shutdown of a major international pipeline.
People in Washington County, just south of the Nebraska border, woke Thursday morning to the smell of gas, the county’s emergency management agency wrote on social media.
Canadian company TC Energy didn’t answer questions Thursday morning about the Keystone pipeline leak and how far the oil traveled downstream in Mill Creek.
It pointed to a press release instead.
“We have shut down the Keystone Pipeline System and mobilized people and equipment,” the statement said. “The affected segment has been isolated, and booms deployed to control downstream migration.”
Keystone pipeline spills in Kansas, dirtying creek and causing oil prices to spike
Posted from kcur.org
Oil and Energy
Oil
Canada
Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Randy Hubbard, the Washington County Emergency Management coordinator, said there had been no evacuations because the break happened in a rural area in the middle of a pasture. He didn’t know the name of the creek or what body of water it flows into.
He said the pipeline operator hasn’t disclosed how much oil was discharged and that it could take a day and a half to get that data.
He said he hadn’t been to the site but is supporting investigators with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Keystone said in its statement: “Our primary focus right now is the health and safety of onsite staff and personnel, the surrounding community, and mitigating risk to the environment through the deployment of booms downstream as we work to contain and prevent further migration of the release.”
KDHE spokesman Matt Lara said the department was sending a team to the site but had no information. The EPA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, and officials with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration didn’t immediately respond to questions about the oil spill Thursday.
“Everyone is in their fact-finding process,” Hubbard said."
..."Randy Hubbard, the Washington County Emergency Management coordinator, said there had been no evacuations because the break happened in a rural area in the middle of a pasture. He didn’t know the name of the creek or what body of water it flows into.
He said the pipeline operator hasn’t disclosed how much oil was discharged and that it could take a day and a half to get that data.
He said he hadn’t been to the site but is supporting investigators with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Keystone said in its statement: “Our primary focus right now is the health and safety of onsite staff and personnel, the surrounding community, and mitigating risk to the environment through the deployment of booms downstream as we work to contain and prevent further migration of the release.”
KDHE spokesman Matt Lara said the department was sending a team to the site but had no information. The EPA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, and officials with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration didn’t immediately respond to questions about the oil spill Thursday.
“Everyone is in their fact-finding process,” Hubbard said."
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CPT Lawrence Cable
I have a 24"high pressure oil line that goes across the ridge opposite my house and travels along the creek watershed that parallels the one in front of my house. It's leaked twice since I've lived here. I'm an Army Engineer, but the speed and size of the environmental response was amazing. The first and largest of the breaks, the country road department responded first, the spill was less than a mile from their location. They got ahead of the oil and threw a coffer dam across the little creek, by that time the pro's were coming into the area. With the first 12 hours, they had rebuilt the dam, build a small town out of the staging area, and had oil booms for miles down the uneffected part of the creek. They had started the recovery process by the end of the first 24. Over the next few days, they removed all the contaminated soil, replaced it, built a new dam that basically had a grease trap built into it and had mitigated the damage caused by all the heavy equipment and truck traffic.
The next leak was small, but the response time was the same or better. They had built staging areas at both ends of the valley, cut and graveled a new road parallel with the pipeline, installed oil booms down the watershed and had fixed the line and started the final mitigation within 36 hours. I was impressed.
Oil companies must take this stuff very serious these days. I think that the leaks were a symptom of the lines age, so the Oil Company bought a new right of way parallel to the original one and dropped in a new pipeline. They then removed the old pipeline, wrapped the old pipe sections in plastic and took them somewhere to be cleaned of the oil and recycled.
The next leak was small, but the response time was the same or better. They had built staging areas at both ends of the valley, cut and graveled a new road parallel with the pipeline, installed oil booms down the watershed and had fixed the line and started the final mitigation within 36 hours. I was impressed.
Oil companies must take this stuff very serious these days. I think that the leaks were a symptom of the lines age, so the Oil Company bought a new right of way parallel to the original one and dropped in a new pipeline. They then removed the old pipeline, wrapped the old pipe sections in plastic and took them somewhere to be cleaned of the oil and recycled.
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