Latest news with #U.S.PipelineandHazardousMaterialsSafetyAdministration
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
5 years later, Walsh County officials see no long-term impacts to site of Keystone Pipeline oil spill
May 28—EDINBURG, N.D. — It's been a few months past five years since a spill from the Keystone Pipeline in Walsh County washed about 5 acres of wetlands in around 383,000 gallons of crude oil. The main thing two county leaders remember about the incident was not the spill itself, but the work put in to correct the damage. Denny Skorheim, a Walsh County commissioner who was on the commission at the time of the spill, said the cleanup and how it was handled were flawless. "I did a follow-up a year, a couple years after, and at that time, I said, 'they could run a pipeline across my land any time they wanted,' because I have absolute faith in the way they handled that whole operation," he said. The spill occurred on Oct. 29, 2019, when a rupture occurred in the pipeline that spilled the crude oil into wetlands outside Edinburg. It is one of the largest crude oil spills in North Dakota history. Recently, the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration released an investigation report for the incident that said the root issue behind the spill could partially have been "ineffective quality control" and inadequate inspections at the Berg Steel Mill in Panama City, Florida, the producer of the damaged piece of pipeline. In 2020, TC Energy, the Canadian company that operated the pipeline at the time, paid a fine of about $52,000 to the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality for the spill. The cost was made up of an administrative penalty and an environmental emergency cost recovery fee. TC Energy turned its oil pipeline business into a new company called South Bow Energy last year, and the pipeline is active under the new operators. Skorheim said TC Energy met with the county commission and went through the whole cleanup process, and the commission turned it all over to TC Energy. To Skorheim's knowledge, there haven't been any complaints about the land affected and there has been no lasting impact from the spill. "There was not one thing I could fault them for on anything," he said. "Obviously, the break happened, but as far as the response and cleanup and their handling and managing of the whole operation. ... It was just flawless. Nothing but good to say about the way they handled it." Walsh County Sheriff Ron Jurgens remembered how his office helped keep people away from the affected area and controlled traffic while TC Energy went to work reclaiming the area. He remembered the smell of the oil in the ground, but the main thing he took away from the incident was how the company went about cleaning up the mess. "They hauled out all the old, oil-soaked ground and reclaimed it and remade it," he said. "It's really much better than it was before."
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Five years later, Walsh County officials see no long-term impacts to site of Keystone Pipeline oil spill
May 28—EDINBURG, N.D. — It's been a few months past five years since a spill from the Keystone Pipeline in Walsh County washed about five acres of wetlands in around 383,000 gallons of crude oil. The main thing two county leaders remember about the incident was not the spill itself, but the work put in to correct the damage. Denny Skorheim, a Walsh County commissioner who was on the commission at the time of the spill, said the cleanup and how it was handled was flawless. "I did a follow-up a year, a couple years after and at that time I said, 'they could run a pipeline across my land any time they wanted,' because I have absolute faith in the way they handled that whole operation," he said. The spill occurred on Oct. 29, 2019, when a rupture occurred in the pipeline that spilled the crude oil into wetlands outside Edinburg. It is one of the largest crude oil spills in North Dakota history. Recently, the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration released an investigation report for the incident that said the root issue behind the spill could partially have been "ineffective quality control" and inadequate inspections at the Berg Steel Mill in Panama City, Florida, the producer of the damaged piece of pipeline. In 2020, TC Energy, the Canadian company that operated the pipeline at the time, paid a fine of about $52,000 to the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality for the spill. The cost was made up of an administrative penalty and environmental emergency cost recovery fee. TC Energy turned its oil pipeline business into a new company called South Bow Energy last year, and the pipeline is active under the new operators. Skorheim said TC Energy met with the county commission and went through the whole cleanup process, and the commission turned it all over to TC Energy. To Skorheim's knowledge, there haven't been any complaints about the land affected and there has been no lasting impact from the spill. "There was not one thing I could fault them for on anything," he said. "Obviously the break happened, but as far as the response and cleanup and their handling and managing of the whole operation. ... It was just flawless. Nothing but good to say about the way they handled it." Walsh County Sheriff Ron Jurgens remembered how his office helped keep people away from the affected area and controlled traffic while TC Energy went to work reclaiming the area. He remembered the smell of the oil in the ground, but the main thing he took away from the incident was how the company went about cleaning up the mess. "They hauled out all the old, oil soaked ground and reclaimed it and remade it," he said. "It's really much better than it was before."
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Factbox-The Keystone pipeline's history of spills
By Amanda Stephenson TORONTO (Reuters) - The approximately 600,000-bpd Keystone oil pipeline from Canada to the United States remained shut down Wednesday after an oil spill near Fort Ransom, North Dakota, on Tuesday released an estimated 3,500 barrels of oil. The latest spill comes two years after the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) identified what it called a pattern of "increasingly frequent incidents" on the Keystone system. * The Keystone pipeline spans more than 4,300 km and moves oil from Alberta to U.S. refining markets in Illinois, Oklahoma, and Texas. It has been owned by Canadian company South Bow since last year, when former owner TC Energy spun off its crude pipelines business to focus on natural gas instead. * A 2021 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found there had been 22 spills from the pipeline between 2010 and 2020. The report said while Keystone's accident history has been similar to other crude pipelines, the severity of spills has worsened in recent years. The report also identified issues relating to the "original design, manufacturing of the pipe, or construction of the pipeline" as contributing to the largest incidents. Here is a look at some recent Keystone spills: * December 2022: The pipeline spilled about 14,000 barrels of oil into a creek in Washington County, Kansas, the biggest U.S. oil spill in nine years. The resulting third-party investigation concluded the pipeline ruptured due to a crack in a weld, which progressed due to pressure and temperature "fatigue." * October 2019: The pipeline spilled an estimated 4,515 barrels near Edinburg, North Dakota. * November 2017: The pipeline spilled an estimated 6,592 barrels near Amherst, South Dakota. * The Keystone pipeline is the flagship asset for South Bow, contributing approximately 95% of the company's earnings in 2024, according to ATB Capital. * The pipeline's physical integrity is one of the biggest risks to South Bow's investment thesis, RBC Capital said Tuesday.
Reuters
09-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
The Keystone pipeline's history of spills
TORONTO, April 9 (Reuters) - The approximately 600,000-bpd Keystone oil pipeline from Canada to the United States remained shut down Wednesday after an oil spill near Fort Ransom, North Dakota, on Tuesday released an estimated 3,500 barrels of oil. The latest spill comes two years after the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) identified what it called a pattern of "increasingly frequent incidents" on the Keystone system. Make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. Sign up here. * The Keystone pipeline spans more than 4,300 km and moves oil from Alberta to U.S. refining markets in Illinois, Oklahoma, and Texas. It has been owned by Canadian company South Bow ( opens new tab since last year, when former owner TC Energy ( opens new tab spun off its crude pipelines business to focus on natural gas instead. * A 2021 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found there had been 22 spills from the pipeline between 2010 and 2020. The report said while Keystone's accident history has been similar to other crude pipelines, the severity of spills has worsened in recent years. The report also identified issues relating to the "original design, manufacturing of the pipe, or construction of the pipeline" as contributing to the largest incidents. Here is a look at some recent Keystone spills: * December 2022: The pipeline spilled about 14,000 barrels of oil into a creek in Washington County, Kansas, the biggest U.S. oil spill in nine years. The resulting third-party investigation concluded the pipeline ruptured due to a crack in a weld, which progressed due to pressure and temperature "fatigue." * October 2019: The pipeline spilled an estimated 4,515 barrels near Edinburg, North Dakota. * November 2017: The pipeline spilled an estimated 6,592 barrels near Amherst, South Dakota. * The Keystone pipeline is the flagship asset for South Bow, contributing approximately 95% of the company's earnings in 2024, according to ATB Capital. * The pipeline's physical integrity is one of the biggest risks to South Bow's investment thesis, RBC Capital said Tuesday.
