Keystone Pipeline Leaks More Than 200,000 Gallons of Oil in South Dakota
The Keystone pipeline, which carries oil from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico, was shutdown Thursday after it leaked 210,000 gallons of oil in South Dakota, operator TransCanada said.
The leak was discovered at 6 a.m. Thursday on a stretch of the pipeline passing through a rural part of the state outside of Amherst. Cleanup crews are reportedly at work, and state officials say they don’t think the oil has reached any waterways or drinking water systems.
But David Flute of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate tribe told BuzzFeed the leak happened near his reservation and he’s worried about the effects. “I’m thinking there is going to be an impact, some type of environmental impact,” he said. “As the oil seeps, if they can’t contain the spill, which I’m hoping they do, if they’re unable to contain it from seeping into the water systems, it can be hurtful and harmful to everybody.”
The last Keystone leak occurred in April of 2016, when the company reported a spill of 187 gallons. That number was later revised to 17,000 gallons and took two months to clean up.
This spill comes at a particularly bad time for TransCanada. Next Monday, Nebraska will deliver its decision on whether they will allow the company’s Keystone XL pipeline to be built in the state.