“Our Road is Destroyed”

TC Energy Promises to Repair Jefferson County Road But Contract Remains Unsigned By Gordon HopkinsWhile there are no longer 100 plus trucks a day traversing the road between Steele City and Washington County, Kansas, the damage has been done. Now Jefferson County Commissioners are waiting for TC Energy, the company formerly known as TransCanada, to sign the contract agreeing to replace the road.TC Energy was using those trucks to transport oil-contaminated dirt from the Keystone Pipeline oil spill site at Mill Creek, Kansas, which occurred in December of 2022, to a landfill in Douglas County, Nebraska. In addition, ‘clean’ dirt was taken by truck from a TC Energy property in Steele City to the oil spill site for restoration.Last year, after the Keystone XL Pipeline cancellation but before the oil leak, TC Energy began preparations for the construction of three oil tanks in Steele City. In October of 2022, a representative with TC Energy advised FJN, “All activities will occur within TC Energy owned land. The area of development is approximately 30 acres.”This is the source of the ‘clean soil’ sent to Kansas to support backfilling excavated areas and the management of temporary berms at the spill site.That portion of the operation took several months to complete. Despite numerous requests from FJN, TC Energy has thus far refused to say how much soil was taken from Jefferson County and taken to Kansas.At a meeting of the Jefferson County Commissioners on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, it was noted that the number of TC Energy trucks using the road had dropped to almost none.TC Energy confirmed that in an email to FJN, “We completed soil transport from Steele City to Washington County last month.”However, Commissioner Mark Schoenrock noted, “But nonetheless our road is destroyed.”While representatives with TC Energy have verbally agreed to replace the damaged road but no contract has yet been signed. At a prior meeting on August 1, Schoenrock said, “Because we need to hear back. They've kind of given us a counter-proposal. And we need to review that and get back to them but, you know, we want to get that contract signed.”

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