Keystone pipeline operator agrees to pay $26.9m penalty over Kansas oil spill

This photo taken with a drone shows the area where the ruptured Keystone pipeline dumped oil into a creek in Washington County, Kansas, on 9 December 2022. Photograph: AP View image in fullscreen This photo taken with a drone shows the area where the ruptured Keystone pipeline dumped oil into a creek in Washington County, Kansas, on 9 December 2022. Photograph: AP Keystone pipeline operator agrees to pay $26.9m penalty over Kansas oil spill Proposed legal settlement over 2022 oil spill would resolve allegations that South Bow violated clean water laws A proposed legal settlement with the US government would require the Keystone pipeline system’s operator to pay a $26.9m civil penalty over a large oil spill in Kansas in December 2022 and spend about $40m 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 13,000 barrels of heavy crude oil into a creek running through a rural pasture in Washington county, Kansas, about 150 miles (241km) north-west of Kansas City. The accident was the largest onshore crude pipeline spill in the US in nine years and surpassed all 22 previous ones on the same pipeline system combined, according to a 2021 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 $3m 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 30-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 2024. She also said that since the spill, the company has done more than 12,000 miles (19,312km) of pipeline inspections and 400 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 2024, 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 s