Kansas oil spill can’t be the price of doing business

Keystone Pipeline leak the worst in its 12-year history

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Editorials

December 21, 2022 - 12:04 PM

A beaver goes into the water on Dec. 15, 2022 after members of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response and UC Davis’ Oiled Wildlife Care Network release three beavers that have been rehabilitated following an oil spill incident in Sacramento. Wildlife suffer disproportionately from such man-made disasters.

The recent Keystone pipeline leak near Washington, Kansas, is deeply disturbing.

Pictures of the calamity have circulated across the nation, showing nearby farmland slathered in a sludgy oil, with a smaller trail of inky petroleum running downhill into nearby Mill Creek. Crews have spent the week trying to contain the damage.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 13, more than 300 people were on the scene of the disaster, reinforcing dams to prevent more oil from oozing into the water, or the water draining away. The Environmental Protection Agency said workers had recovered roughly 2,100 barrels of oil and water from Mill Creek, and another 435 barrels from the broken pipe itself.

That leaves about 11,500 barrels — almost half a million gallons — to go.

THE LEAK appears to be the worst incident in the pipeline’s 12-year history. “This is going to be months, maybe even years before we get the full handle on this disaster and know the extent of the damage and get it all cleaned up,” Sierra Club lobbyist Zack Pistora told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

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