600,000 gallons of crude oil were leaked in what has become worst U.S. spill in a decade, marking 23rd oil spill from Keystone pipeline system

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington (December 15, 2022) – Today, eight days after more than half a million gallons of crude oil began leaking from the Keystone pipeline, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety, sent a letter to TC Energy, owner of the Keystone pipeline system, demanding answers and accountability for the oil spill – a disaster that is larger than all 22 previous Keystone pipeline spills combined and the biggest onshore U.S. spill in more than ten years.

“The oil transported through your pipeline has left a trail of environmental devastation in its wake, from the disastrous effects of tar sand extraction on the land of the Cree, Dene, and Métis indigenous communities, to the direct damage that the frequent spills along its route cause,” wrote Senator Markey. 

“Enough is enough,” Senator Markey continued. “Communities threatened by your pipeline urgently need an explanation of how and why these spills keep happening, and whether your company will continue to put people nationwide and our environment at risk.”
 
In March 2021, Senator Markey reintroduced the Tar Sands Tax Loophole Elimination Act, bicameral legislation closing the tax loophole to ensure Big Oil pays its fair share into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. In November 2019, Senator Markey called on the Keystone Pipeline’s owner to respond after it leaked almost 400,000 gallons of oil in North Dakota. In April 2019, the Senator blasted President Donald Trump’s two executive orders authorizing the president to unilaterally approve or deny construction, connection, operation, and maintenance permits on international pipeline projects.
 
In his letter, Senator Markey asks TC Energy to provide responses to the following questions and requests for information by January 4, 2023:
  1. Please provide an update on the latest oil spill, including:
    1. the extent of the spill, including whether and to what extent it contaminated waterways, and a description of the types and locations of water quality monitoring underway post-spill;
    2. the estimated total amount of oil spilled and the total amount of oil removed, recovered, lost to evaporation, remaining to be recovered, and likely to be unrecoverable;
    3. plans for future remediation efforts, including how oil will be removed from the ground and waterways, stream and land restoration efforts, and a timeline for cleanup and restoration; and
    4. your current understanding of how and why the spill occurred, based on any investigation you have conducted to date. In responding, please provide a description of the damaged pipe segment, including whether oil spilled through a weld failure, corroded pipe, physical damage to the pipe, or other damage, and provide photos of the ruptured pipe.
  2. Was the section of pipeline that failed operating in compliance with American Petroleum Institute (API) Recommended Practice 1160 or API Recommended Practice 1173? If so, please provide copies of the following documentation relevant to the segment of the pipeline that failed: performance measures and tracking; management of change reviews and procedures; audits; leading and lagging safety indicators; root cause incident investigation reports; performance improvement; and safety culture assessments. If not, why not?
  3. Please provide copies of the Material Safety Data Sheet, Spill Model report, the relevant Geographic Response Plan, and Facility Response Plan for the ruptured section of the pipeline. Were unredacted copies of these documents available to first responders in advance of the most recent spill?
  4. Please provide copies of the Root Cause Failure Analysis reports for all prior spills, including details of who carried out these analyses and how they were funded.
  5. Did the higher operating pressure of the pipeline affect its failure, the timing of the failure, or the amount of oil released in the 2017, 2019, and 2022 leaks? For each spill, please provide any evidence that the higher operating pressure was or was not a factor in the pipeline’s failure, its timing, and the amount of oil released.
  6. How often was the section of the pipeline affected by the most recent rupture inspected, and by what means? When was the most recent inspection? Please provide the inspection results.
  7. According to the GAO report, TC Energy “stated that the special permit would reduce steel costs by approximately 10 percent.” How much did this design change actually save?
  8. How much has TC Energy spent on cleanup and repair operations from previous pipeline spills on sections of the Keystone pipeline authorized to operate at 80 percent of SMYS under the PHMSA special permit?
  9. Please provide the values included as casualties and losses in your Form 6 annual reports to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 2010 to present, and state the amount of those values that oil spills caused.
  10. Has TC Energy included spill response costs as an operational expense? If so, what amount of spill response costs has TC Energy recovered from its shippers and insurers?
  11. What is TC Energy’s current estimated budget for cleanup, repair, and restoration operations related to the latest spill?
  12. What support are you providing to local landowners and community members affected by the latest spill and cleanup operations?
  13. Have you entered into, or do you plan to enter into, any compensation agreements with local landowners for harm or damage caused by the latest spill? If so, please provide a copy of these agreements.
 
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