Keystone Pipeline system's operator agrees to pay a $26.9M penalty over
a major Kansas oil spill
[July 13, 2026]
By JOHN HANNA
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A proposed legal settlement with the U.S. government
would require the Keystone Pipeline system's operator to pay a $26.9
million civil penalty over a major oil spill in Kansas in December 2022
and spend about $40 million more to prevent future accidents.
The agreement would resolve allegations from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and Kansas that South Bow, based in Canada, violated
U.S. and state clean water laws. The rupture dumped nearly 13,000
barrels of heavy crude oil into a creek running through a rural pasture
in Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles (241 kilometers) northwest
of Kansas City.
The accident was the largest onshore crude pipeline spill in the U.S. in
nine years and surpassed all 22 previous ones on the same pipeline
system combined, according to a 2021 report from the U.S. Government
Accountability Office. The total amount of oil spilled would have nearly
filled an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
South Bow also would pay Kansas more than $3 million for environmental
restoration projects under a proposed decree filed Friday in U.S.
District Court in Kansas. A judge would have to approve the proposed
decree after a 30-day public comment period.
“The oil spill blanketed land and water, rendering the waterway lifeless
and useless and requiring extensive cleanup and remediation,” Jeffrey
Hall, the EPA's assistant administrator for its enforcement office, said
in a statement. “The substantial penalty reflects the seriousness of the
environmental harm.”
South Bow spokesperson Sara Hunter said in an emailed statement Sunday
that the company “proactively” launched its response to the spill before
receiving formal directives from government officials, including
“comprehensive environmental remediation” completed in February 2024.
She also said that since the spill, the company has done more than
12,000 miles (19,312 kilometers) of pipeline inspections and 400
excavations to examine pipe and make repairs where necessary.
“This work reflects our ongoing commitment to the safe, reliable
operation of our pipeline system and to continuously strengthening
pipeline integrity,” she said.
The company that built the pipeline, TC Energy, spun off South Bow as a
separate firm in 2024, after the Kansas cleanup was done.
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This photo taken with a drone shows the area where the ruptured
Keystone pipeline dumped oil into a creek in Washington County,
Kan., Dec. 9, 2022. (Zeitview via AP, File)
No pipeline workers or area residents were injured in the spill, and
officials said public water supplies weren't affected. However, a
complaint filed Friday by the U.S. government along with the
proposed settlement said more than 2,700 animals were harmed or
killed. The area is home to an endangered species, the long-eared
bat.
In a May 2023 report for the U.S. government, an engineering
consulting firm said that a bend in the Keystone system where the
spill occurred had been “overstressed” since its installation in
December 2010 — likely because construction activity itself altered
the land around the pipe. The complaint filed Friday in court said
soil under the pipe had been “improperly compacted” and that while
the company re-excavated the site in 2013, it did not replace that
section of pipe.
The 2,689-mile (4,327-kilometer) Keystone system carries thick,
Canadian tar sands oil to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and
Texas.
In April, President Donald Trump gave the go-ahead for South Bow and
another company to build a second pipeline from Canada to Wyoming, a
smaller version of a massive $8 billion pipeline project known as
Keystone XL blocked by former President Joe Biden's administration
in 2021 over environmental concerns.
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