WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (U.S.): Residents near the site of America’s worst pipeline leak in a decade took notice of the noise and smell as cleanup crews worked in near-freezing temperatures, and investigators searched for clues to the cause of the leak. .
A heavy smell of oil hung in the air as tractor trailers hauled generators, lighting and earth mats to a muddy site on the outskirts of this farming community, where a breach in the Keystone pipeline discovered Wednesday released 14,000 barrels of oil.
Pipeline operator TC Energy (TRP.TO) said on Friday it was assessing plans to restart the line, which carries 622,000 barrels per day of Canadian oil to U.S. refineries and export hubs. Reuters reported.
“We could smell it first thing in the morning, it was bad,” said Dana Sickle, 56, a Washington resident. He shrugged off the turmoil, saying, “Things are breaking. Pipelines are breaking, oil trains are being derailed.”
TC Energy didn’t provide details of the breach or say when a restart could begin on the broken part. Officials are scheduled to receive a briefing on the pipeline breach and cleanup on Monday, Washington County Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Randy Hubbard said Saturday.
Environmental specialists from as far away as Mississippi were helping with the cleanup and federal investigators combed the site to determine what caused the 36-inch (91 cm) pipeline to break.
Washington County, a rural area of about 5,500 residents, is about 200 miles (322 km) northwest of Kansas City.
The spill did not threaten the water supply or force residents to evacuate. Hubbard said emergency workers installed containment booms to contain the oil flowing into a creek, which was sprayed onto a hillside near a cattle pasture.
TC Energy aims to restart on Saturday the segment of the pipeline that sends oil to Illinois, and another segment that brings oil to the major trading hub of Cushing, Oklahoma, on Dec. 20, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources. Reuters has not verified these details.
It was the third spill of several thousand barrels of crude oil on the 2,687-mile (4,324 km) pipeline since it opened in 2010. An earlier Keystone leak had kept the pipeline closed for nearly two weeks.
TC Energy had about 100 workers leading cleanup and containment efforts, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was providing oversight and monitoring, said Kellen Ashford, an EPA spokesperson.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Substances Administration (PHMSA), the US regulator, said the company shut down the pipeline seven minutes after receiving the leak detection alert.
A prolonged pipeline shutdown could choke off Canadian crude in Alberta, sending prices lower at storage hub Hardesty, though the price reaction was muted on Friday.
Western Canada Select (WCS), the heavy Canadian benchmark for delivery last December, traded at a discount of $27.70 a barrel to the benchmark US crude futures contract, according to a Calgary-based broker. On Thursday, December’s WCS traded at $33.50 for US crude, before settling at around $28.45 for the discount.
“The real impact could come if Keystone faces any pressure (flow) restrictions from PHMSA, even after the pipeline is allowed to resume operations,” said Ryan Saxton, head of oil data at consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
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