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A proposed legal settlement with the US government would require the Keystone pipeline system’s operator to pay a $۲۶.۹m civil penalty over a large oil spill in Kansas in December ۲۰۲۲ and spend about $۴۰m more to prevent future accidents.
The agreement would resolve allegations from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Kansas that South Bow, based in Canada, violated US and state clean water laws. The rupture dumped nearly ۱۳,۰۰۰ barrels of heavy crude oil into a creek running through a rural pasture in Washington county, Kansas, about ۱۵۰ miles (۲۴۱km) north-west of Kansas City.
The accident was the largest onshore crude pipeline spill in the US in nine years and surpassed all ۲۲ previous ones on the same pipeline system combined, according to a ۲۰۲۱ report from the US Government Accountability Office. The total amount of oil spilled would have nearly filled an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
South Bow also would pay Kansas more than $۳m for environmental restoration projects under a proposed decree filed Friday in US district court in Kansas. A judge would have to approve the proposed decree after a ۳۰-day public comment period.
“The oil spill blanketed land and water, rendering the waterway lifeless and useless and requiring extensive cleanup and remediation,” said a statement from Jeffrey Hall, the EPA’s assistant administrator for its enforcement office. “The substantial penalty reflects the seriousness of the environmental harm.”
South Bow spokesperson Sara Hunter said in an emailed statement Sunday that the company “proactively” launched its response to the spill before receiving formal directives from government officials, including “comprehensive environmental remediation” completed in February ۲۰۲۴. She also said that since the spill, the company has done more than ۱۲,۰۰۰ miles (۱۹,۳۱۲km) of pipeline inspections and ۴۰۰ excavations to examine pipe and make repairs where necessary.
“This work reflects our ongoing commitment to the safe, reliable operation of our pipeline system and to continuously strengthening pipeline integrity,” she said.
The company that built the pipeline, TC Energy, spun off South Bow as a separate firm in ۲۰۲۴, after the Kansas cleanup was done.
No pipeline workers or area residents were injured in the spill, and officials said public water supplies weren’t affected. However, a complaint filed Friday by the US government along with the proposed settlement said more than ۲,۷۰۰ animals were harmed or killed. The area is home to an endangered species, the long-eared bat.
In a May ۲۰۲۳ report for the US government, an engineering consulting firm said that a bend in the Keystone system where the spill occurred had been “overstressed” since its installation in December ۲۰۱۰ – likely because construction activity itself altered the land around the pipe. The complaint filed on Friday in court said soil under the pipe had been “improperly compacted” and that while the company re-excavated the site in ۲۰۱۳, it did not replace that section of pipe.
The ۲,۶۸۹-mile (۴,۳۲۷km) Keystone system carries thick, Canadian tar sands oil to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas.
In April, Donald Trump gave the go-ahead for South Bow and another company to build a second pipeline from Canada to Wyoming. That second pipeline aimed to be a smaller version of a large $۸bn pipeline project known as Keystone XL that had previously been blocked by former president Joe Biden’s administration in ۲۰۲۱ over environmental concerns.
