South Bow Agrees $26.9 Million Keystone Spill Penalty, Spending $40 Million on Prevention
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 13
South Bow Agrees $26.9 Million Keystone Spill Penalty, Spending $40 Million on Prevention
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 13
Summary
$26.9 million in civil penalties and about $40 million in safety measures are at the center of a proposed U.S. settlement over Keystone’s 2022 Kansas spill, with South Bow also paying Kansas more than $3 million for restoration.
Nearly 13,000 barrels of heavy crude leaked into a creek in Washington County, making it the largest U.S. onshore crude pipeline spill in nine years and bigger than all 22 previous spills on the Keystone system combined.
A 2023 engineering review tied the rupture to an overstressed bend installed in 2010, while the federal complaint said improperly compacted soil was re-excavated in 2013 but the damaged pipe section was not replaced.
More than 2,700 animals were harmed or killed, according to the complaint, though no people were injured and public water supplies were not affected.
The decree, filed Friday in federal court in Kansas, still needs judicial approval after a 30-day public comment period as South Bow says it has since completed remediation and logged 12,000 miles of inspections.