Part of Keystone pipeline restarts; 2,600 barrels of oil recovered at Kansas spill

LINCOLN — An unaffected portion of the Keystone pipeline was restarted Wednesday night as crews continued recovery, repair and remediation work on a pipeline leak near Washington, Kansas.

The leak, on a portion of the Keystone that runs from Steele City, Nebraska, to Cushing, Oklahoma, leaked nearly a half million gallons of crude oil, about 14,000 barrels, a week ago into Mill Creek, east of Washington.

Largest spill

It was the largest oil spill on the Keystone pipeline since it went into service 12 years ago. The spill occurred as TC Energy, the pipeline’s operator, was running a diagnostic machine through the 36-inch pipe.

The portion of the pipeline that was restarted runs from Steele City to Patoka, Illinois, and was not impacted by the rupture.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported Wednesday that response crews had recovered 2,163 barrels of oil-water mixture from Mill Creek, with 435 barrels of oil recovered directly from the ruptured pipeline.

That comes to a total of 2,598 barrels, or about 110,000 gallons, recovered from the scene, the EPA said.

Second containment dam built

The agency said that TC Energy crews had built a second earthen dam to provide structural relief to an initial dam that was constructed last week to contain the spilled oil. Migration of oil from the spill site has been halted, the EPA said.

TC Energy said Tuesday evening that the affected segment of the pipeline “remains safely isolated” as work to repair and remediate the damage continues.

“This segment will not be restarted until it is safe to do so and when we have regulatory approval,” the company said in a press release.

Last week, a federal pipeline agency ordered TC Energy to determine the root cause of the oil spill, review 10 years of inspections and create a remedial work plan that assesses the risk of spills at other points along the pipeline before requesting a restart of the pipeline.

About 317 personnel were on the scene from EPA, TC Energy, and other state and local agencies, the EPA said on Wednesday.

‘So many unanswered questions’

Jane Kleeb of the Bold Alliance, which opposes fossil fuel pipelines, said she wants the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to conduct an examination of the integrity of the entire pipeline.

Kleeb said that Bold had raised questions about the use of substandard steel in the Keystone system back in 2010 and the total number of leaks — 25 according to Bold — on a relatively new pipeline is a concern.

“There’s so many unanswered questions that we have,” she said.

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