“The Keystone Pipeline has continued to exhibit a pattern of oil spills and safety incidents that put public health and safety at risk.”
Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) wrote to the President and CEO of TC Energy Corporation (TC Energy) today to express concern about the recent oil spill from the Keystone Pipeline in Washington County, Kansas and to request information from the company about the spill and how it plans to prevent future spills.
“The Keystone Pipeline has continued to exhibit a pattern of oil spills and safety incidents that put public health and safety at risk,” Pallone wrote. “Therefore, I request that TC Energy provide a formal plan for preventing further oil spills and for remediating the significant damage caused by this most recent incident.”
Earlier this month, the Keystone Pipeline ruptured and released about 588,000 gallons of oil into a Kansas waterway, resulting in the largest oil spill in the Pipeline’s history and the largest onshore oil pipeline spill in nine years. In addition to damaging property and polluting a local waterway, the incident hurt American companies and consumers by increasing the price of crude oil during intra-day trading.
According to a 2021 Government Accountability Office report requested by Pallone and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Peter DeFazio (D-OR), the Keystone Pipeline has had at least 22 oil spills since 2010, excluding the spill earlier this month. Of those incidents, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has classified six as “impacting people or the environment” and this is the third significant spill from the pipeline since 2017.
“In light of these facts, I have significant concerns about TC Energy’s ability to safely operate its pipeline network,” Pallone continued. “I look forward to receiving TC Energy’s plan to address the root cause of this most recent oil spill and the systemic issues that continue to plague the Keystone Pipeline by no later than January 3, 2023.”
The full letter to TC Energy is available HERE.
Original source can be found here
