TC Energy said Thursday that the cause of December’s oil spill in Kansas was caused by a welding flaw and bending pipe stress. File photo by Larry W. Smith/EPA
Feb. 10 (UPI) — A massive oil spill from the Keystone Pipeline in northern Kansas in December was caused by a welding flaw and bending stress fatigue, TC Energy Corp said in its initial investigation findings.
The Calgary-based TC Energy, formerly known as TransCanada, announced its initial findings into the December oil spill Thursday, stating the pipe failed due to a combination of factors, including bending and a weld flaw that was completed during its manufacturing.
“Although welding inspection and testing were conducted within applicable codes and standards, the weld flaw led to a crack that propagated over time as a result of bending stress fatigue, eventually leading to a instantaneous rupture,” it said in a statement, adding that the cause of the bending stress remains under investigation by a third party.
TC Energy added that metallurgical analysis found no issues with the strength or material properties of the pipe or manufactured fitting and that it was operating within its operation design and within its maximum operating pressure.
The leak was discovered on Dec. 7 about 20 miles south of Steel City, Neb., along the 2,687-mile pipeline that runs from the Canadian province of Alberta into the United States. The break was found near where it spilts into two arms with on running east into Illinois and the other south down to Houston, Texas.
The leak was found feeding oil into a Washington County, Kan., creek, with initial estimates putting the size of the leak at about 14,000 barrels.
On Thursday, the company reduced that estimate to 12,937 barrels, for about 543,350 gallons of oil, making it the Keystone Pipeline’s largest spill.
The company also said Thursday that it estimates the clean-up costs to be about $420 million.
“This estimate may be adjusted as we continue to progress work on site,” it said. “We have appropriate insurance coverage in place and are working with our insurers to maximize cost recoveries.”
The Sierra Club, a nationwide environmental organization, accused TC Energy of ignoring issues with its design and materials used in the pipeline while blaming the leak on third-party facilities.
“The failure analysis reaffirms it’s only a matter of time before another weld fails or design error causes environmental disaster like this again, or worse,” Zack Pistora, Sierra Club Kansas chapter lobbyist, said in a statement. “How many hazardous fossil fuel disasters will we endure before we come to our senses?
“TC Energy doesn’t need a slap on the wrist — it needs real consequences. It’s time for TC Energy to shut this pipeline down and stop putting our climate and communities in danger time and again.”
December’s leak is the fourth in the Keystone Pipeline’s 12-year history, after a leak of 400 barrels in 2016, a leak of 9,600 barrels in 2017 and a leak of 9,120 barrels in 2019.