Consultants: Design issues, operations lapses led to big Kansas oil spill

By JOHN HANNA and JOSH FUNK
Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A report for U.S. government regulators says pipeline design issues, lapses in its operations and problems caused during construction led to a massive oil spill on the Keystone pipeline system in northeastern Kansas. An engineering consulting firm said in the report that the bend in the Keystone system in Washington County, Kansas, where the December 2022 spill occurred had been “overstressed” since its installation in December 2010. The report raised questions about the oversight of the manufacturing of the pipeline bend and operator TC Energy’s assessment of various risks. The spill dumped nearly 13,000 barrels of crude oil into a creek and was the largest onshore spill in nearly nine years.