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The Keystone Pipeline System, which carries crude oil from Canada to multiple U.S. states for refining, experienced its largest-yet breach before being contained over the weekend.
The pipeline failure initially took place near Washington, Kansas on Wednesday (December 7), which caused an estimated 14,000 barrels of crude, or 588,000 gallons of a form of crude known as tar sands oil, to spill into Mill Creek, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration of the U.S. Transportation Department confirmed via NBC News.
The affected section of the pipeline was ordered by the administration to be closed until corrective action was completed.
TC Energy, the Canadian parent company of TC Oil, which is the day-today pipeline operator, confirmed that the oil spill was no longer moving downstream and that 250 crews were assigned to the cleanup in a statement obtained by NBC News on Saturday (December 10).
The Environmental Protection Agency also issued a statement on Saturday confirming that, "The discharge has been contained, and no drinking water has been impacted."
The failure took place along a 96-mile stretch which included Washington and Clay counties in Kansas, as well as Jefferson County, Nebraska, serving as the latest concern over pipeline safety following the highly debated Keystone XL project, which was halted by the Obama administration, renewed by the Trump administration and once again stopped by the Biden administration.