Federal government regulators have stopped allowing a large part of the Keystone oil pipeline to operate at pressures about 10% higher-than-normal.
Canadian-based pipeline operator TC Energy received a permit for the higher pressures 6 years ago.
The company had already been ordered to reduce the pressure on the 96-mile segment where a massive spill occurred in Kansas near the Nebraska border in December, but the new order from the Dept of Transportation’s pipeline safety arm covers 1,220 miles in 7 states.
The regulators’ action came ahead of the first hearings in the Kansas Legislature on the spill. A TC Energy official is set to face questions from lawmakers Tuesday during a joint meeting of two House committees.
TC Energy said in a statement Friday that it was already operating within the pressure limits set by this week’s order and that it would continue to comply and that. “Our commitment to the safe operations of our system is unwavering.”
The Keystone Pipeline runs from the oil sands of Canada along the eastern side of the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas to Oklahoma with a spur from southeast Nebraska through Missouri into central Illinois.
The pipeline has had more than 20 spills since it began operations in 2010, with the Dec 7th one in Kansas its largest at nearly 13,000 barrels. It was also the largest onshore spill in the U-S in 9 years, according to the federal regulators.
TC Energy said last month that a flawed weld caused a crack that grew over time because of the stress on a bend in the pipeline where the rupture occurred. The company has estimated that the cleanup will cost $480 million, and it has an average of 800 people on site in any given 24-hour period.
The company will pay the federal government’s cleanup costs and faces a fine of nearly $52,000 a day if it violates the EPA order.