‘Slap on the wrist:’ Environmentalists say new rules fall short after Kansas oil spill

Natalie Wallington
TC Energy

Environmental organizations are criticizing a federal order issued last week for not doing enough to implement safety measures on the Keystone Pipeline following December’s massive oil spill in rural northern Kansas.

The U.S. Department of Transportation instructed pipeline operator TC Energy on Tuesday to lower the pressure in a large section of the pipeline and conduct third-party safety testing on the impacted area. This includes determining whether land movement may have played a role in December’s spill, which the company attributed to “bending stress on the pipe” and “a weld flaw.”

“TC Energy doesn’t need a slap on the wrist – it needs real consequences to ensure the communities, drinking water, and waterways are kept safe from disaster,” said Catherine Collentine, Beyond Dirty Fuels director for the Sierra Club, one of the nation’s largest environmental organizations.

“While it’s a necessary and overdue move to order a reduction to lower the pressure, the damage from this spill and the risk of another still remains.”

A federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

A spokesperson for the Kansas City chapter of the Sunrise Movement, a national youth-led environmental organization, told The Star that the order is too little, too late.

“We are relieved to see PHMSA require TC Oil to swiftly follow commonsense safety standards without opportunity for a hearing. However, temporary and after-the-fact accountability is not enough,” organizer Laela Zaidi wrote in a statement to The Star Monday.

“PHMSA should have never eased regulations for TC Oil in 2007... Our regulations should be guided by science, not what will turn profit around faster for fossil fuel investors.”

The pipeline segment in question is the site of a December spill that released over half a million gallons of oil and reportedly killed nearly 100 animals near the small city of Washington in rural northern Kansas. Home to around 1,065 people, Washington is located around 175 miles northwest of Kansas City. The spill, which occurred northeast of city limits, was the largest in the pipeline’s history, releasing more oil than all of its previous spills combined.

Collentine said that these added that past safety promises from the pipeline operator have proven insufficient.

“Oil spills along the Keystone pipeline are unfortunately all too familiar,” she wrote. “TC Energy initially said this pipeline could spill approximately once every seven years. Now four of its largest spills have happened in just the last six years.”

What did the Department of Transportation order TC Energy to do?

Regulators with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) laid out 10 requirements for TC Energy to follow under threat of “civil penalties” or legal action. The requirements include:

  • Reducing the pipeline’s operating pressure temporarily

  • Mechanical testing of the failed pipeline section and of welds similar to the one that failed in December’s spill

  • Analyzing whether land movement played a role in December’s rupture

  • Presenting a plan on how the company will update its safety protocols to prevent future spills

While regulators note that TC Energy was monitoring the area for “geohazards and land movement” prior to the failure, they ordered the company to get its monitoring program reviewed by a third-party evaluator in the next 60 days.

“The evaluation must determine if land movement may have contributed to the loading and stresses on the pipeline at the failure location,” regulators added.

What does the federal order mean for future Keystone spills?

Regulators noted that the Keystone Pipeline has been spilling more oil more often in recent years, a trend it hopes new regulations will reverse.

“The spills… show a tendency or pattern in recent years of increasingly frequent incidents resulting in larger releases,” the order states.

An Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson declined to comment on the recent order.

The pipeline segment covered by the order, which extends from the U.S.-Canada border in the north to Cushing, Oklahoma in the south, must remain at a lower operating pressure until TC Energy meets its other requirements.

The company has around 90 days to meet most of the requirements in the order, although it can request time extensions if it has a “good cause,” the order says.

Do you have more questions about environmental regulations in the Kansas City area? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.

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