[1/6] Rescue teams work to clean up the largest oil spill in the U.S. in nearly a decade, following a leak from the Keystone pipeline operated by TC Energy in rural Washington County, Kansas, U.S., December 9, 2022. REUTERS/Drone Base/File Image
WASHINGTON, Kan., Dec. 18 (Reuters) – Farmer Bill Pannbacker received a call earlier this month from a TC Energy Corp representative informing him that his Keystone Pipeline, which runs through his farmland in rural Kansas, had suffered an oil spill.
But he wasn’t prepared for what he saw on the land he and his wife Chris own. Oil shot out of the pipeline and covered what he estimated was almost an acre of pasture up the pipe, which is embedded in a valley.
The grass was blackened with diluted bitumen, one of the thickest crude oils that was shipped from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
The December 7 rupture is the third Keystone pipeline rupture in five years, and the worst of the three, spilling more than 14,000 barrels of crude oil and expected to take weeks or months to clean up.
TC did not say when the repairs might be completed and the 96-mile (155 km) section of the pipeline would restart. Crews will be busy on site throughout the holiday, with cleanup completion dependent on weather and other factors, the Canadian company said in a statement.
“We are committed to returning the affected areas to their original condition or better.”
BEEHIVE OF WORKERS
Two previous Keystone spills occurred in unincorporated areas in North Dakota and South Dakota. And although the city of Washington, Kansas is small with a population of just over 1,000, it is surrounded by farms that grow wheat, corn, soybeans and raise cattle. Read also : Kansas State Football Recruitment: Four-Star QB Avery Johnson Commits to Wildcats over Oregon, Washington. A spill in Washington County affected land owned by several people.
The once-quiet valley is now a construction site with approximately 400 contractors, staff from pipeline operator TC Energy, and federal, state and local officials. They work into the night, leaving a glow from high-intensity lamps visible for many miles.
Cranes, storage containers, construction equipment and vehicles extend more than half a mile from the rupture site. The valley became almost a small town, with a few Quonset huts erected for the workers.
Aerial photos showed a large, blackened strip of land that almost looks like an object in the air is casting a shadow on the ground. Pannbacker said the pastures were used for cattle grazing and calving, but there was no livestock left after the calving season ended.
The oil-blackened grass on the land, which is owned by Pannbacker and his sisters in a family trust, has now completely disappeared. It has been scraped off and is now confined to a giant mound of dirt that is noticeably darker at the bottom. But drops of oil on plants further up the hill were still visible.
WIDER GROUP AFFECTED
Living in rural Kansas, the Pannbackers are used to preparing for severe weather, but not for an oil spill. To see also : 1619, 1776 and the United States of America. Despite the accident, residents are largely unconcerned by the accident, even if the area will resemble a workplace in the near future.
“How many people have experienced an oil spill? Who knows what it’s like?” said Chris Pannbacker. “This is not a tornado or a natural disaster.”
Kansas State Representative Lisa Moser in a Facebook post said 14 landowners are being compensated for spillage or use of their property during cleanup.
TC said he was discussing compensation with landowners but would keep details to himself. The company ensures that it is in constant contact with the landowners. Pannbacker said TC has yet to talk to them about compensation.
Pannbacker says he doesn’t expect grass to return to pastures for at least two or three years; there is a well in the pasture, which the cattle will not use either.
Reporting by Erwin Seba in Washington, Kan.; additional reporting by Rod Nickel; written by David Gaffen
Editing by Marguerita Choy
