Nebraska approves Keystone XL pipeline despite massive oil spill
Channel: Civil Disturbia
Date: 2017-11-21

The images of South Dakota grassland blemished by 210,000 gallons of leaked Canadian crude oil could not have come at a worse time for the Keystone Pipeline’s operator, TransCanada, which on Monday will ask regulators in Nebraska to approve a different pipeline despite fierce opposition.

This week’s leak was grimly familiar for Bob Banderet, a rancher on the Keystone route in North Dakota, about 20 miles north of the spill. In 2011, Mr. Banderet said he had spotted “a geyser of oil shooting straight up in the air” from a Keystone pumping station near his property. He found the response by TransCanada to be flat-footed and opaque.

“As far as transparency, in my eyes they get a failing grade,” Mr. Banderet said.

Though TransCanada has spilled far less than many of its competitors, the Keystone Pipeline has sprung several leaks since it was began operating in 2010. The federal government fined the company $135,400 this year for safety violations including corrosion control, and since 2011, regulators have opened 13 enforcement cases against TransCanada.

Thursday’s spill follows the 2011 leak spotted by Mr. Banderet in North Dakota and a 2016 spill in South Dakota, each of which released more than 16,000 gallons. TransCanada has also reported several smaller spills.

“They’re certainly not the worst, they’re certainly not the best,” said Carl Weimer, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, an industry watchdog group.

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The concern, Mr. Weimer said, is that the “pipeline is not very old.”

The mixed-bag record contrasts with TransCanada’s promotional materials and news releases, which talk about exceeding regulations and building exceptionally safe pipelines. Company executives have boasted that the project awaiting approval in Nebraska, Keystone XL, would be “the safest pipeline ever constructed on American soil.”

Details were still emerging on Friday about the latest spill, which blackened a roughly 100-yard radius in a grassy field outside Amherst, S.D., and caused the pipeline to be shut down. A preliminary report filed with the state listed “equipment failure” as the cause.

About 75 TransCanada workers and contractors were at the site on Friday, along with federal and state regulators, to begin a lengthy cleanup that will include the excavation of part of the pipeline.

“I would think it’s probably weeks for sure,” said Brian Walsh, an environmental scientist with the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Mr. Walsh said that the spill had been contained and that there was no immediate risk to drinking water or residents.

Ed Hirs, a finance lecturer at the University of Houston and a partner in a small oil company, said it appeared TransCanada was responding appropriately by releasing information and sending workers to clean up.

Sources: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKQ5z2j12A8
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/us/keystone-pipeline-transcanada-leak.html