The spill comes five months after President Obama rejected TransCanada’s proposal to build their Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would have passed through western South Dakota, amid environmental fears. For now, TransCanada would want to fix the leaked pipeline and worry about expansion later.
Advertisement
Lots of “unusual” things seem to occur when TransCanada does its pipeline business with local governments. It is unusual that a private company would make such a request, Molinaro said, but not unheard of.
The Keystone Pipeline leak is apparently worse than first thought.
TransCanada has claimed it has found no significant environmental harm so far. The public has not been impacted, the company said.
Oil covered part of a farm field ditch four miles from a Freeman-area pump station, about 40 miles southwest of Sioux Falls.
According to the company, the spill volume estimate was based on excavation that was done to expose more than hundred feet of pipe which the company is still investigating to locate the source of the oil spill.
This week, TransCanada had meetings with landowners in northwest North Dakota about the proposed Upland Pipeline, which would carry oil from the Bakken north to Canada.
“They always claimed that they knew that there was a leak going on and they were in the process of shutting it down”, Banderat said.
Environmentalists are alarmed because the Keystone pipeline carries tar sands down from Canada. According to CBC News, it is not clear how much oil was spilled. The fact it’s thicker also means it needs to be combined with other hazardous materials to allow it to be transported in pipelines. Which is what makes small leaks like this unsafe since they can go undetected for a long time. The pipeline was shut down immediately. A spokesman for PHMSA said that it had no updates as of midday. A media representative wasn’t available at that office to answer questions.
Advertisement
Even Though TransCanada confirmed its leak detection system did not pick up the spill, it refused to confirm if the product in the line was diluted bitumen or regular crude. ABC News discussed the importance of the oil transport system.
