The Keystone Pipeline Leaked in Kansas. What makes this spill so bad?

More than a week has passed since TC Energy announced that the Keystone pipeline in Washington County, Kansas, leaked nearly 600,000 gallons of oil into Mill Creek and the land surrounding it.

Environmentalists claim that this is only the beginning of a long-term cleanup.

On December 7, an issue with the pipeline was made known to the operators. According to TC Energy, of the estimated 14,000 barrels (or approximately 588,000 gallons) of oil that were reportedly lost in the spill as of Friday morning, 4,125 barrels have been recovered from the creek.

Nebraska Public Media's aerial footage of the leak shows that it has affected residents' farmland and a nearby pasture.

The cause of the spill, among other initial details, is still unclear. The kind of oil that was being moved through the pipeline is known: diluted bitumen, also known as oil from the tar sands

According to K L-I B, founder of Bold Alliance, and Anthony Swift, director of the Canada Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council, both members of environmental advocacy organizations, this thick, toxic substance significantly complicates cleanup.

A disaster like this in the tar sands is worse than a typical oil spill. Because cleaning up tar sands is a lot more difficult, expensive, and toxic. We are aware that this will take years, K L-I B stated to NPR. She claimed to have been keeping an eye on oil spills, particularly those from the tar sands, for 14 years.

She also makes the observation that, in her experience, initial estimations of the quantity of oil that was actually spilled can be inaccurate.

She stated, "Typically, when this occurs, that initial number doubles."

Until the recovery procedure is finished, there won't be a complete picture of the leak.

"Our commitment to the community is that our response efforts will continue until we have fully remediated the site", TC Energy stated in a statement to NPR in response to K L-I B remarks. We are carrying out an efficient cleanup and response because we have the personnel, expertise, equipment, and training necessary

Diluted bitumen is like "peanut butter"

Diluted bitumen, also known as "D-I L B-I T", is a thick, almost peanut butter-like substance. Jonathan Swift of NRDC asserts that the majority of bitumen containment efforts fail. As a result of the material eventually sinking to the bottom of rivers and wetlands, containment becomes more challenging and costly

Experts compare this spill to a 2010 Kalamazoo incident

This most recent Keystone leak, according to K L-I B and Swift, is similar to the oil spill that occurred in the Kalamazoo River in 2010.

According to the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council, more than a million gallons of tar-sands crude oil were discharged into Talmadge Creek in July 2010, which is a small tributary of the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Michigan. An E N B R-I D G-E Energy Partners LLC pipe that burst caused this environmental catastrophe. A 30-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River became contaminated as a result of the spill.

The Environmental Protection Agency reports that "over 1.2 million gallons of oil were recovered from the river between 2010 and 2014." In the years since the cleanup, estimates suggest that it cost more than $1 billion.

K L-I B stated that Kansas and those living there will need to prepare for the long haul.

I have not witnessed a tar sands spill of this magnitude in a creek. We don't know what that will look like or how it will affect the creek's biodiversity. Furthermore, also the field land, K L-I B said.

In the past, spills had long-lasting effects on the land when they occurred. She stated, "There is a lot of work to be done to ensure that this is not affecting the root system" in addition to the fact that they must excavate all the polluted soil. And now, all of that valuable topsoil, which is essential to agriculture, has been and will continue to be destroyed