TC Energy Diverts A Portion Of Mill Creek

By Gordon HopkinsTC Energy, the company formerly known as TransCanada Corporation, announced its intention to divert a portion of Mill Creek from the area where a leak of the Keystone Pipeline released an estimated 14,000 barrels, or 588,000 gallons, of crude oil into Mill Creek, near Washington, Kansas, on December 7, 2022.On January 3, 2023, TC Energy released a statement that read, in part, “Activities are ongoing to temporarily divert Mill Creek from a location upstream of the pipeline spill, to downstream of the containment dams. The diversion includes the installation of water pumps and an above-ground bypass line. The diversion will assist in the clean-up and reclamation of the creek.”Restarting the PipelineThe remaining portions of the Keystone Pipeline have been restarted. TC Energy issued a statement on Thursday, December 29, 2022, “After completing repairs, inspections and testing we proceeded with a controlled restart of the Cushing Extension, safely returning the Keystone Pipeline to service today.”The Cushing Extension runs from Steele City, through Kansas, to Cushing, Oklahoma. While other sections of the pipeline had previously been put back into operation, the Cushing Extension includes that portion of the pipeline where the leak occurred.Cause Remains UnknownAs of press time, no cause has bee given for the leak. FJN reached out to TC Energy to ask how they can ensure the pipeline is safe to restart when the cause of the lease remains unknown. A representative for TC Energy responded, “The cause of the incident is still under investigation. We have removed and replaced the impacted section of pipe.”The representative added, “Nothing matters more to us than safety. We place the highest priority on the safety of our employees and the communities we serve as well as protecting our environment. PHMSA (U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration), who reviewed and approved our Restart Plan, was on-site for final restart activities. The Keystone System will operate under additional operational mitigation measures, including reduced pressures as also required and approved by PHMSA. We will utilize numerous layers of monitoring to ensure sustained safety of operations.”According to a Public Affairs Specialist from PHMSA, “The Corrective Action Order (CAO) we issued on December 8 requires the operator to conduct an independent third party Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA), which is required to be produced within 90 days of the issuance of the CAO. PHMSA has not yet received the RCFA from the operator.”ContaminantsA complication of the cleanup is the nature of the spill which consists of ‘diluted bitumen.’ This has been confirmed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).According to the American Petroleum Institute, “One of the types of crude oil derived from the Canadian oil sands is bitumen, a heavy, sour oil. Bitumen would not flow through a pipeline efficiently, so it is mixed with diluents to be readied for pipeline transportation as diluted bitumen, or ‘dilbit.’ Diluents are usually natural gas condensate, naphtha or a mix of other light hydrocarbons.”Bitumen doesn’t float on water the way crude oil does, making recovery of the oil more difficult.FJN reached out to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and asked if chemicals have been discovered downstream of the spill site. A representative responded, “KDHE has preliminary water data samples. We plan to release information and data regarding water sampling after additional data sets have been analyzed to provide a benchmark and a trend analysis.”Restricted airspace over the site of the oil spill remains in place.

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