Status: 10.12.2022 09:02 a.m
In the US state of Kansas, more than two million liters of crude oil escaped through a pipeline leak – including into a river. So far, the authorities have been unable to assess the extent of the disaster.
More than 2.2 million liters of crude oil spilled in the US state of Kansas due to a leak in the Keystone pipeline. The Canadian operator TC Energy estimates that. The affected pipeline segment has now been isolated and the oil has been locked in, the company said.
The leak was discovered on Wednesday, and TC Energy immediately shut down the pipeline. Among other things, the crude oil flowed into a river where a mound of earth was built to curb environmental pollution. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, there are no known effects on drinking water wells or the public.
Various security measures
“We are monitoring and investigating the Keystone Pipeline leak, which was first discovered Wednesday night,” US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg wrote on Twitter. A corrective action has been issued that prescribes various security measures.
“Our primary focus right now is the health and safety of personnel, the surrounding community and mitigating environmental risks,” TC Energy said in a statement.
Biggest disaster since 2013
According to environmentalists, it is the largest environmental disaster of its kind in the United States since 2013, when a Tesoro Corp pipeline in North Dakota ruptured and spilled more than 3.2 million liters of crude oil, according to the US Department of Transportation.
The Keystone Pipeline’s largest leak to date occurred in 2017, when more than a million gallons of crude oil spilled near Amherst, South Dakota. The pipeline brings crude oil from Canada to the US, where it is processed into fuel and other products.
Dispute over expansion of the pipeline
According to the US Energy Information Administration, about 95 million liters of crude oil are transported through the pipeline to Cushing, Oklahoma each day. From there it can be taken to the Gulf of Mexico via another pipeline.
For some time, oil companies and environmentalists have been arguing that the pipeline should be further expanded – to the almost 2,000-kilometer-long Keystone XL. US President Joe Biden rejected the expansion shortly after his inauguration.