A portion of the Keystone oil pipeline was closed Monday after a leak was found over the weekend, said pipeline owner TransCanada.
The company said it is removing the oil and investigating the source of the leak, assuring that “no significant impact to the environment has been observed and our investigation continues.”
The pipeline is the already operating U.S. portion of the Keystone, running from South Dakota to Texas. The controversial Keystone XL portion would have brought oil directly from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada, into Nebraska, before shipping the oil south almost 1,200 miles to Texas. The Obama administration denied the company’s application to ship oil across the international border in November, after a seven-year review process, saying approval would look bad as President Obama pushed for an international deal on reducing climate change.
TransCanada is suing the administration on grounds that it violated the bylaws of the North American Free Trade Agreement in canceling the project. The pipeline had become a key piece of the Republican energy platform, and the party was devoted to approving its construction.
The portion of the Keystone line where the leak occurred was in Hutchinson County, S.D., and was closed immediately on Saturday. The section that runs from South Dakota to Cushing, Okla., was closed Monday. The portion that runs from Cushing to Texas remains open.
“Keystone customers have been notified the pipeline will remain shut down while TransCanada continues these efforts,” the company said.
“Regulatory agencies have been notified and we are working cooperatively on the investigation,” it added. “TransCanada will provide regular updates to the appropriate regulatory and government agencies as we continue with clean-up efforts.”
