Keystone Pipeline Leak Spills 9,000 Barrels of Oil in North Dakota

A leak in the Keystone Pipeline in North Dakota has spilled some 9,120 barrels of oil, the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality said in a press release Friday morning. It's the second such significant spill from the pipeline that runs from Canada's tar sands region through seven states over the last two years.

The leak was discovered Tuesday night according to a release from TC Energy, which owns and operates the pipeline, after engineers monitored a drop in pressure. The oil spill affected a nearby wetlands area, but no sources of drinking water have been affected. Crews are currently on hand working on oil recovery before they begin making repairs to the pipeline. The initial estimate of 9,120 barrels of oil released it about half the size of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. That's nearly 383,000 gallons, but the company says it won't know exactly how much is released until the oil recovery process has been finished.

"We are establishing air quality, water and wildlife monitoring and will continue monitoring throughout the response. There have been no reported injuries or impacted wildlife," the company wrote.

"Our emergency response team contained the impacted area, and oil has not migrated beyond the immediately affected area,” TC Energy wrote in an update on Wednesday.

Crews are using vacuum trucks and backhoes to help recover the oil. Once the area has been cleaned, crews will work on repairing the leak.

The $5.2 billion pipeline runs for over 2,147 miles from Hardisty, Alberta in Canada to refineries located in Illinois and Texas as well as an oil distribution center in Oklahoma. Tuesday's leak is the second significant spill for the controversial pipeline, after about 210,000 gallons of oil were leaked onto farmland located near Amherst, South Dakota in 2017.

Photo: North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality