Emergency crews work to clean up a crude oil spill following the leak at the Keystone pipeline operated by TC Energy in rural Washington County, Kansas, U.S., December 9, 2022. (Reuters File)
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The U.S. Justice Department said on Friday it had filed a proposed settlement with the owner and operator of the Keystone oil pipeline to resolve Clean Water Act violations related to a 2022 rupture in Kansas.
Keystone ships Canadian crude from Alberta to the U.S. Midwest and on to the Gulf Coast, and is a key part of Canada’s oil export network.
In 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. A resulting probe concluded the pipeline ruptured due to a crack in a weld, which progressed due to pressure and temperature “fatigue.”
In the settlement, South Bow, the Canadian company that owns and operates the pipeline, agreed to pay a civil penalty of more than $26 million and complete work designed to prevent future similar discharges, which the company estimates will cost $40 million, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
South Bow also agreed to contribute over $3 million to Kansas for natural resource restoration projects to resolve violations of Kansas state laws, the department said.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya, Katharine Jackson; Editing by Doina Chiacu and David Ljunggren)
