Nearly 600,000 gallons of oil spilled into the waterway as well as the land surrounding it.
Environmental advocates say this is just the beginning to a cleanup that will likely take years.
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Not including the Mill Creek leak, the two largest spills in Keystone's history occurred in 2017 and 2019. As of Dec. 7, government data shows that this spill is the biggest in the pipeline's history, the Associated Press reported.
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As of Friday morning, TC Energy says, 4,125 barrels of oil from the creek have been recovered of the estimated 14,000 barrels (about 588,000 gallons) reportedly lost in the spill.
Aerial footage of the leak from Nebraska Public Media shows the leak has affected a nearby pasture and residents' farmland.
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"When a tar sands disaster like this happens, it is worse than a traditional oil spill. Because tar sands is much more difficult, expensive and much more toxic to clean up. We know that this is going to take years," Kleeb told NPR. She said she's been monitoring oil spills, particularly tar sands spills, for 14 years.
She also notes that, in her experience, initial estimates of the amount of oil actually spilled can be wrong.
"Usually, when this happens, that initial number ends up doubling," she said.
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TC Energy, formerly known as TransCanada, says its Keystone pipeline runs from Canada to Oklahoma. (This Keystone pipeline is not to be confused with the canceled Keystone XL pipeline project that was a major flashpoint in the U.S. for years.)
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Bitumen doesn't flow through a pipeline efficiently, "so it is mixed with diluents to be readied for pipeline transportation as diluted bitumen, or 'dilbit,' " the American Petroleum Institute says.
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Most containment efforts don't really work for bitumen, he says. In situations of other oil spills affecting waterways, one of the first steps is to set up booms to prevent the oil from spreading farther in the water.
Diluted bitumen "doesn't float the way conventional oil does. And most means of spill remediation in water bodies do rely on most of the oil staying on top of the water body," Swift said.
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"Once this thick tar sands is on something, you basically have to just extract everything that this stuff has touched," he said. "The bitumen can migrate and it tends to seep into soils. The longer it's left, the more of a problem it can become."
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Keystone has been the subject of 22 reported leaks since 2010, according a Government Accountability Office report last year. With the Mill Creek case, it is now up to at least 23.
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"In the past, when we've seen the spills happen it impacts the land for years. They not only have to excavate all of the polluted soil, there is a lot of work to be done to make sure that this isn't impacting the root system," she said. "And now all of that precious topsoil, which is critical to agriculture, is now destroyed and will be destroyed forever."
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Prior to construction, TC Energy got a special permit from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to operate certain portions of the pipeline at a higher pressure level than is ordinarily allowed under agency regulations for oil transport.
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"They should have never given a company with this many spills a special permit to pump at higher pressure."
NPR
