logo
Keystone pipeline shut down after rupture

Keystone pipeline shut down after rupture

Yahoo08-04-2025

The Keystone oil pipeline was shut down Tuesday morning after a rupture in North Dakota halted the flow from Canada to U.S. refineries.
South Bow, which manages the pipeline, said it was shut down after a pressure drop was detected by the control center leak detection systems, The Associated Press reported.
'The affected segment has been isolated, and operations and containment resources have been mobilized to site,' the company said. 'Our primary focus right now is the safety of onsite personnel and mitigating the risk to the environment.'
The spill was contained to an agricultural field in the area, and no people or structures were impacted, but the cause for the rupture was not immediately known.
Reports said the oil was surfacing 300 yards from the pump station in a field, and emergency services responded.
Bill Suess, a spill investigation program manager with North Dakota's Department of Environmental Quality, told the AP that an employee heard a 'mechanical bang' and shut down the pipeline within minutes.
He noted there was a 'fairly good volume' spilled but there have been 'much, much bigger spills' in the past and he did not think it was going to be 'that huge.'
South Bow has managed the pipeline, which was built in 2010, since last year.
There were plans to expand the pipeline, dubbed Keystone XL. But they were dropped by the Biden administration after it drew criticism from environmentalists. President Trump has recently called for the completion of the controversial pipeline.
The Associated Press contributed.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Senate Republicans propose eliminating penalties for violating fuel efficiency rules
Senate Republicans propose eliminating penalties for violating fuel efficiency rules

The Hill

timean hour ago

  • The Hill

Senate Republicans propose eliminating penalties for violating fuel efficiency rules

Senate Republicans are proposing to terminate penalties for automakers whose fleets are not efficient enough to meet national standards. Automakers' car fleets are required to meet fuel mileage standards set by the Department of Transportation. Text for the GOP's 'big, beautiful bill' put forward Thursday by the Senate Science, Commerce and Transportation Committee Republicans brings the penalty for not complying with these rules down to zero. How stringent the standards for car fleets should be is a question that has ping-ponged in recent years between Democratic and Republican administrations. However, the bill text goes a step further, effectively wiping out the standards entirely by charging companies zero dollars if they don't meet them. In recent years, some automakers have had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties related to the vehicle efficiency rules. In a written statement on the legislation, Science, Commerce and Transportation Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said the bill would help to 'unleash America's full economic potential.' Automakers could still be governed by tailpipe emissions rules put forward by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Text from the Environment and Public Works Committee, which has jurisdiction over that separate standard, seeks to wipe out the Biden-era requirements but does not go as far as getting rid of the entire regulatory program.

Texas will begin a summer lunch program in 2027, but only if feds don't raise costs
Texas will begin a summer lunch program in 2027, but only if feds don't raise costs

Yahoo

time2 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Texas will begin a summer lunch program in 2027, but only if feds don't raise costs

A new food program that would give low income families $120 per child to help feed them during the summer months could be coming to Texas in 2027. Texas has never participated in the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT) program, created in 2023, an offshoot of a similar pandemic program. But tucked inside the state's $338 billion budget is a $60 million budget addition for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to administer such a program. States have to pay 50% of the administrative cost to participate in the Summer EBT program, a U.S. Department of Agriculture program that also goes by the name of Sun Bucks. That large investment could bring another $400 million in federal dollars to Texas. However, ongoing talks at the federal level about slashing food benefits could endanger Texas' participation in the Biden-era summer program. A provision built into the rider could cancel the appropriation if the current state-federal funding formula changes. 'If federal matching rates for the program or administration of the program are changed in a manner that result in a higher cost to Texas from the match rates in place on May 30, 2025, this appropriation is void,' the rider language states. Families would qualify for the summer meal benefits if their children, even if they are home-schooled or attend private schools, qualify for free or reduced priced lunches during the school year. In 2024, a family of four with an annual income of $40,560 or less would be eligible for free school lunch. To qualify for a reduced school meal, that same family would have to make $57,720 or less. For state Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston, bringing the Summer EBT program to Texas was personal. Today, he lives not far from where he grew up in northeast Houston. 'We were on food stamps growing up,' he said. 'I lived that experience of not having food.' While HHSC would design and manage the program, it would also work in collaboration with the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Department of Agriculture, which manages federal agriculture dollars that fund school lunches in Texas. 'TDA looks forward to continued collaboration with HHSC on their submission of a state plan, ' the agency said in a statement. The state's agriculture agency already works with schools, cities and community groups to offer lunches during the summer for school-age children. Those institutional partners submit expenses for the lunches they served and are reimbursed for cost by the federal government, according to Lena Wilson, assistant commissioner for food and nutrition at TDA. In 2024, there were 12 million summer meals (snacks and lunches) served to Texas children at 4,480 sites statewide at a cost of $46.1 million. This existing USDA's summer lunch program, which was piloted in 1968 and was made a full-fledged funding stream in 1975, does not require pre-registration or identification to access. The locations are selected primarily where children in need are located and is open to all children, even if they don't live in the specific neighborhood. 'It's great,' said Catherine Wright-Steele, TDA's commissioner of food and nutrition, because children can bring their younger siblings who aren't attending schools yet or say a young friend or cousin visiting from out of town. Some of the meals are prepared and served on site. At other locations, they can be more of a 'grab-and-go' sack lunch offering. 'So many children who live in poverty in Texas. These programs all supplement each other,' Walle said of adding another summer program. From an economic standpoint, bringing more federal dollars will put more customers in stores, he said. 'It's an economic benefit to the state of Texas,' Walle said. Walle, who said he has been working on Summer EBT for the past 18 months, also credited bipartisan support in the House and Senate, as well as Gov. Greg Abbott. For other food assistance groups, the inclusion of the rider has been welcome news. 'We're thrilled that state lawmakers included funding in the budget to administer Summer EBT,' said Celia Cole, CEO of Feeding Texas, the state association of food banks. 'Summer EBT fills this gap, ensuring that Texas kids stay nourished and ready to learn. The program is particularly important for a state like Texas, where 1 in 6 households are food insecure.' Right now, Congress is considering slashing the budget of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, what many people still refer to as food stamps. As the rider currently reads, the Texas participation in Summer EBT could be in danger if the federal government forced states to pay more of the administrative cost or even a portion of the subsidy. There's been no word on whether the Summer EBT program could face cuts. For now, the state is moving to come up with a plan to submit to Washington. Disclosure: Feeding Texas has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Big news: 20 more speakers join the TribFest lineup! New additions include Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Michael Curry, former presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church; Beto O'Rourke, former U.S. Representative, D-El Paso; Joe Lonsdale, entrepreneur, founder and managing partner at 8VC; and Katie Phang, journalist and trial lawyer. Get tickets. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.

Trump administration issues rule undermining Biden car fuel efficiency rules
Trump administration issues rule undermining Biden car fuel efficiency rules

The Hill

time2 hours ago

  • The Hill

Trump administration issues rule undermining Biden car fuel efficiency rules

The Trump administration on Friday took a step to undermine Biden-era rules that tightened fuel efficiency requirements for cars and trucks. The Transportation Department published an interpretive rule that says that the Biden administration improperly considered electric vehicles as a way to make vehicle fleets more efficient While this determination does not formally end the Biden-era rule, the Trump administration indicated that while the rulemaking process plays out it may not enforce the Biden-era standards. 'Pending the rulemaking process for the establishment of replacement standards, [the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] will exercise its enforcement authority with regard to all existing… standards in accordance with the interpretation set forth in this rule,' it stated. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, in a written statement, accused the previous administration of trying to push an electric vehicle 'mandate.' 'Under President Trump's leadership, we are making vehicles more affordable and easier to manufacture in the United States,' Duffy said. 'The previous administration illegally used [Corporate Average Fuel Economy] standards as an electric vehicle mandate.' The Biden administration issued a rule requiring cars to be about 2 percent more fuel efficient each year while heavy duty pickup trucks and vans would have to be 10 percent more efficient each year from 2030 to 2032 and 8 percent more efficient in the years after. President Trump has long talked about getting rid of the Biden administration's efforts to promote electric vehicles. He has argued that these efforts harm consumers' freedom to choose what kinds of cars they want to drive and could lead to strife for autoworkers. Democrats, meanwhile, have argued that shifting toward more electric vehicles would mitigate air pollution and climate change – and put the U.S. at the forefront of an emerging market. While Trump has long lamented the previous administration's electric vehicle policy, the release of the administration's determination comes just one day after an explosive feud emerged between the president and Tesla mogul Elon Musk. The Transportation Department rules came alongside a separate, more stringent regulation for vehicle tailpipe emissions from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that in practice has a greater effect on the vehicle market's fuel efficiency and is not impacted by the Trump administration's latest maneuver. However, the department's fuel economy rules would act as a backstop if the EPA rule was to be overturned. Republicans are attempting to eliminate that rule through their 'big, beautiful bill.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store