Kansas oil spill largest in Keystone Pipeline history

On Dec. 7, an estimated 14,000 barrels of oil spilled right into a creek in Washington County, Kansas. The oil spill has shut down the Keystone Pipeline System, a serious pipeline that carries crude oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast.

On social media, multiple people claimed this oil spill is the largest in Keystone Pipeline history. Online searches show many individuals are questioning if these claims are true.

Is the Kansas oil spill the largest in Keystone Pipeline history?

Yes, the Kansas oil spill is the largest in Keystone Pipeline history. 

The Dec. 7 incident that launched practically 14,000 barrels of oil right into a creek in Washington County, Kansas, is the largest crude oil spill in Keystone Pipeline history, in line with federal knowledge obtained by VERIFY. 

The Keystone Pipeline System, which stretches practically 2,700 miles from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf Coast in Texas, delivers Canadian and U.S. crude oil provides to markets throughout North America, in line with Canada-based TC Energy, the corporate that owns the pipeline. It has been in operation since 2010.

TC Energy had plans to construct one other crude oil pipeline in the Keystone system, the 1,200-mile Keystone XL, which might have reduce throughout Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. But after greater than 10 years of protests, authorized battles and the cancellation of a key permit for the mission by President Joe Biden, the corporate determined to terminate its Keystone XL pipeline plans in June 2021.

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In a July 2021 report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) discovered that from 2010 to 2020, there had been 22 accidents, or oil spills, on the Keystone Pipeline. In nearly all of these spills, fewer than 50 barrels of oil had been launched, in line with GAO.

But in 2017 and 2019, two of the largest Keystone Pipeline oil spills occurred — one in northeastern South Dakota close to Amherst that spilled 6,592 barrels in November 2017, and one other in northeastern North Dakota, close to Edinburg, that spilled 4,515 barrels in October 2019.

In an e mail, Emily Larson, the senior analyst at GAO in cost of the July 2021 report, instructed VERIFY the Kansas oil spill on Dec. 7 “is the largest in the pipeline’s history.”

“According to our July 2021 report, the largest accident in size prior to this Kansas one was the spill near Amherst, South Dakota, in Nov. 2017 which released 6,592 barrels of oil. The preliminary reports of the recent Kansas spill indicate it released 14,000 barrels,” Larson stated.

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The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) additionally confirmed the preliminary 14,000 barrels estimate in an order that requires TC Energy to take “necessary corrective actions to protect the public, property and the environment from potential hazards” related to the Dec. 7 oil spill.

As of Dec. 12, TC Energy stated its crews had recovered 2,598 barrels of oil and water from the creek in Washington County, Kansas. The firm says the Keystone Pipeline System will stay shut down as restoration efforts proceed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.