Work begins to identify cause of Keystone pipeline rupture

Dec. 12, 2022, 4 a.m. ·

Oil discharges into Mill Creek from Keystone Pipeline rupture in northeast Kansas (Environmental Protection Agency photo)
Oil discharges into Mill Creek from Keystone Pipeline rupture in northeast Kansas (Environmental Protection Agency photo)

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Work is underway to find what caused a pipeline break that spread almost 600,000 gallons of oil across pasture land and into a creek in Kansas, about 10 miles south of Nebraska. The spill has left folks with lots of questions:

Pipeline company TC Energy, formerly Transcanada, said it detected a pressure drop in the Keystone pipeline just after 9 p.m. Wednesday. Seven minutes later, it said it shut the pipeline down. Company personnel deployed booms on nearby Mill Creek to try and stop the oil from spreading. By 5 a.m., Washington County crews had built a dam across the creek.

Speaking to county commissioners Monday, TC Energy Vice-President of Liquids Field Operations Gary Salsman said the company’s working with the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), but doesn’t yet know what caused the rupture.

“We are today beginning to excavate in the area of the incident. We have our pipeline integrity specialists at site from our home office as well as PHMSA and will be cooperating a hundred percent with the PHMSA inspectors to go through that. At this point I wouldn’t think that we’d have any indication on the cause for some time yet,” Salsman said.

Bill Pannbacker, whose family farm is where the oil spilled, said he has lots of questions about restoring his oil-blackened grassland.

“I was asked this morning how you deal with an oil spill. And I said, other changing the oil in the yard on a tractor, that’s about the extent of our experience with oil spills,” Pannbacker said.

Pannbacker said he’s pleased at the cooperation he’s seen so far from everybody dealing with the situation.

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