Yesterday, a total of 210,000 gallons (795,000 liters) of oil leaked from the Keystone pipeline in South Dakota, the pipeline's operator, TransCanada, said.
Crews shut down the pipeline Thursday morning and officials are investigating the cause of the leak.
This is the largest Keystone oil spill to date in South Dakota. The leak comes just days before Nebraska officials announce a decision on whether the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, a sister project, can move forward.
A representative of the State environmental office said "It is a below-ground pipeline but some oil has surfaced above ground to the grass. It will be a few days until they can excavate and get in borings to see if there is groundwater contamination."
Environmental groups, Native American tribes and local farmers opposed the original pipeline and the proposed extension (Keystone XL). They have cited this spill as evidence of the risks.
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@sciguy18 I think it could be an error or a fault in the pipeline. But the fact that almost 800,000 liters of oil leaked out and went unnoticed is a bit hard to digest. What do you think? 馃
@SW-User Yeah, it will take months to get the details, just like the methane gas leak near LA last year. And I bet there will be no news coverage too.
SW-User
@Vivaci this pipeline carries about 400 barrels of oil a minute.. this spill estimate is 5000 barrels wich means the leak lasted less than 15 minutes before it was detected and shut down...
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SW-User
@sciguy18 there was a line pressure drop detected.. at wich point the flow of oil was shut down.
@Vivaci As onestarrynight mentioned, they know how much oil flows through the pipe every minute. They simply figure when they first noticed the leak and when they shut off the pipe to estimate the amount lost.
SW-User
@Vivaci at this point it's an estimate.. probably based on the amount of line pressure drop out time..
@Vivaci That's a double-edged sword. Burying the pipeline deep underground is better for protecting objects at the surface. On the other hand, you don't want the pipeline to be in contact with the water table - as leaks would easily contaminate ground water.
@sciguy18 Yeah, you're right. But I remember reading about it somewhere that some intercity gas pipelines are usually dug very deep. So keeping my fingers crossed on this one... 馃
@Vivaci Natural gas pipelines are best buried - especially in populated areas. If there's an explosion, you want distance between it and people. When it comes to oil pipelines, I would personally rather they be above-ground. That would make it much easier to spot a leak and fix it - and would also provide some buffer before it reached ground water.
@sciguy18 Oh no! Don't even think that. Remember the Porter Ranch leak took them a good 110 days to fix. That's the amount of damage that can be avoided with deeper dug pipelines.
