WASHINGTON, Kan., Dec 18 (Portal) – Farmer Bill Pannbacker received a call earlier this month from a representative for TC Energy Corp. telling him that his Keystone pipeline, which runs through his farmland in rural Kansas, has been shut down suffered an oil leak.
But he wasn’t prepared for what he saw on the land he owns with his wife Chris. Oil had spurted out of the pipeline and covered, he estimated, nearly an acre of grassland up the tube, which lies in a valley.
The grass was blackened with thinning bitumen, one of the thickest crudes shipped from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
The Dec. 7 rupture is the third in the past five years for the Keystone pipeline and the worst of the three — more than 14,000 barrels of crude oil have spilled and cleanup efforts are expected to take weeks or months.
TC has not said when the repairs may be complete and a 96-mile (155 km) section of the pipeline will be operational again. Crews will stay busy on site during the holiday and completion of the clean-up depends on weather and other factors, the Canadian company said in a statement.
“We are committed to restoring the affected areas to their original condition or better.”
HIVE OF WORKERS
Keystone’s two previous oil spills occurred in unincorporated areas of North Dakota and South Dakota. And though the city of Washington, Kansas is small at just over 1,000 people, it’s surrounded by farms that grow wheat, corn, soybeans, and raise cattle. The Washington County oil spill affected land owned by multiple individuals.
The once-quiet valley is now a construction site, bustling with about 400 contractors, employees of pipeline operator TC Energy, and federal, state, and local officials. They work into the night, leaving a glow visible for miles from the high-intensity lamps.
Cranes, storage containers, construction equipment and vehicles stretch more than half a mile from the breach site. The valley has almost become a small town, with several Quonset-style cottages built for workers.
Aerial photos showed a large, blackened swath of land that almost looks like a flying object is casting a shadow across the land. Pannbacker said the pasture was used for grazing and calving cattle, but when calving season was over there were no cattle there at the time.
The oil-blackened grass on the land owned by Pannbacker and his sisters as part of a family trust is now completely gone. It has been scraped away and is now confined to a huge mound of dirt, noticeably darker at the bottom. But oil droplets on plants further up the hill were still visible.
WIDER GROUP AFFECTED
Living in rural Kansas, the Pannbackers are used to preparing for inclement weather, but not an oil spill. Local residents were largely unconcerned despite the accident, even though the area will resemble a construction site in the near future.
“How many people have experienced an oil spill? Who knows what it’s like?” said Chris Pannbacker. “It’s not like a tornado or a natural disaster.”
Kansas State Representative Lisa Moser said in a Facebook post that 14 landowners will be compensated for either the spill or the use of their property during the cleanup.
TC said it was in talks with landowners about compensation but would keep details private. The company said it has stayed in regular contact with landowners. Pannbacker said TC has not yet discussed compensation with them.
Pannbacker says he doesn’t expect the grass to return to the rangeland in at least two or three years; There is a well place on the cattle pasture, which they will not use either.
Reporting by Erwin Seba in Washington, Kan.; additional reporting by Rod Nickel; Writing by David Gaffen Editing by Marguerita Choy
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