Keystone pipeline operator agrees to pay $26.9m penalty over Kansas oil spill | Kansas
The proposed legal settlement with the U.S. government would require the operator of the Keystone pipeline system to pay a $26.9 million fine for a major oil spill in Kansas in December 2022 and spend about $40 million more to prevent future accidents.
The agreement will resolve allegations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Kansas City that Canada-based South Bow violated U.S. and state clean water laws. The explosion caused about 13,000 barrels of heavy crude oil to flow into a stream that runs through a rural pasture in Washington County, about 150 miles (241 km) northwest of Kansas City.
The accident was the largest onshore crude oil pipeline spill in the United States in nine years, surpassing 22 previous accidents on the same pipeline system, according to a 2021 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The total amount of oil spilled was nearly enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool.
South Bow will also pay more than $3 million to Kansas for environmental restoration projects, according to an order filed Friday in U.S. district court in Kansas. A judge would have to approve the proposed ordinance after a 30-day public comment period.
“The oil spill covered the land and water, leaving the waterway lifeless and useless and requiring extensive cleanup and remediation,” said a statement from Jeffrey Hall, deputy administrator of the EPA’s enforcement office. “The significant penalty reflects the seriousness of the damage caused to the environment.”
South Bow spokeswoman Sara Hunter said in an emailed statement Sunday that the company “proactively” initiated its response to the spill before receiving formal instructions from government officials, including “comprehensive environmental remediation” completed in February 2024. He also said the company has conducted more than 12,000 miles (19,312 km) of pipeline inspections and 400 excavations since the leak to inspect the pipe and make repairs as needed.
“This study reflects our ongoing commitment to the safe and reliable operation of our pipeline system and the continued strengthening of pipeline integrity,” he said.
TC Energy, the company building the pipeline, spun off from South Bow as a separate company in 2024 after the Kansas cleanup is completed.
No pipeline workers or residents were injured in the spill, and officials said public water supplies were not affected. But the complaint filed by the U.S. government with the proposed settlement on Friday said more than 2,700 animals had been harmed or killed. The area is home to the long-eared bat, an endangered species.
In a report prepared for the US government in May 2023, an engineering consulting firm said the bend in the Keystone system where the leak occurred had been subject to “extreme stress” since its installation in December 2010; this was probably because construction activity changed the land around the pipe. The complaint filed in court Friday said the soil beneath the pipe was “improperly compacted” and that the company did not replace that section of the pipe when it reexcavated the site in 2013.
The 2,689-mile (4,327 km) Keystone system carries thick Canadian tar sands oil to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas.
In April, Donald Trump gave South Bow and another company permission to build a second pipeline from Canada to Wyoming. This second pipeline was intended to be a smaller version of a massive $8 billion pipeline project known as Keystone XL, which was previously blocked by former president Joe Biden’s administration in 2021 due to environmental concerns.
