According to federal data, a ruptured pipe this week spilled enough oil into a stream in northeastern Kansas to almost fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, making it the worst onshore crude pipeline leak in nine years and bigger than all the prior ones on the same pipeline system combined.
The largest spill in the system’s history occurred at the Keystone pipeline, which is located in Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Kansas City. data from the Department of Transportation The pipeline that runs from Canada to Oklahoma lost around 14,000 barrels, or 588,000 gallons, according to the operator, Canadian-based TC Energy.
Environmentalists and safety activists questioned whether TC Energy should maintain a federal government permit that had allowed the pressure inside some of its Keystone system to exceed the usual maximum authorized levels, including the stretch through Kansas, in the wake of the accident. The chair of a House panel on pipeline safety noted the leak on Friday because Congress may debate whether to renew regulatory programs.
There have been 22 spills along the Keystone system since it started operating in 2010, according to a US Government Accountability Office data from last year, the majority of them on TC Energy land and involving fewer than 20 barrels. According to the report, the sum of the 22 occurrences was little under 12,000 barrels.
