TC Energy, an energy company based in Canada, spilled more than 14,000 barrels of crude oil into a creek. The spill which happened in Kansas signifies the biggest spill in the United States in just under a decade, reports say.
What Happened?
There are still no official reports about what caused the leak, but the spill happened 20 miles south of a key junction in Steele City, Nebraska, according to Reuters. So far, there are no announcements about when the pipeline would open.
Answers may emerge soon enough, as the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) already sent out personnel to the site to investigate. This is not the first oil spill as well, since the system experienced a similar incident back in 2019, in North Dakota.
The US Environmental Protection Agency released a statement, saying that the drinking water wells or the public have not been affected. However, Mill Creek's surface water bore the effects of the oil spill.
Effects of the Temporary Shutdown
The pipeline is able to carry around 600,000 barrels a day, and closure for a long period of time might affect US crude inventories. The stockpiles in Cushing, Oklahoma, have been at their lowest since this year's third quarter, reports say.
Price hikes for oil have been seen with West Texas Intermediate of up to 4%, which led to barrels being priced at $75 each. Prices on the Gulf Coast also had a price increase, which could be due to the high demand for gasoline.
According to Bloomberg, the market may survive a short closure since US gasoline inventories have been built back up. However, a longer outage might cause the gasoline prices to soar again, just as they started to go down.
The Harm of Oil Spills
Oil spills can cause harm not only to the environment but the living things that are within the area of the spill. Oil can harm animals in many ways. For instance, it can coat the wings of a bird, preventing it from flying.
The oil can also affect the fur of an animal, removing its ability to keep warm which could lead to hypothermia. These effects will lessen an animal's chances of surviving in the wild, as mentioned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The oil contains various toxic compounds, which may cause many health problems for both animals and humans. These include heart damage, stunted growth, immune system effects, and death. The oil spill on the creek will not have a massive effect as opposed to a spill in the ocean, but it has effects regardless.
In comparison, the 14,000 barrels of the crude oil spill is much smaller compared to the biggest incident recorded. In 2010, a tragic explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform occurred, which caused the death of 11 people.
The recent oil Keystone pipeline spill held around 588,000 gallons. The incident that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 spilled around 134 million gallons into the ocean, which cost $8.8 billion in settlement for restoration.
Related: Oil Drilling Linked to Deadliest Southern California Earthquake: Is Human Activity To Blame?
