After oil spill, Keystone pipeline operator faces sharp questions from Kansas lawmakers

Kansas lawmakers confronted a TC Energy executive on Tuesday over the large oil spill from its Keystone pipeline in Washington County in December, but the company official didn’t directly explain why the pipeline’s spills have grown more severe in recent years.

Gary Salsman, TC Energy’s vice president field operations liquids, spoke to Kansas House and Senate committees — the first time the company has testified before the Legislature about the spill. Several lawmakers had sharp questions about the spill, the largest in the pipeline’s history, which released nearly 13,000 barrels of oil near the Nebraska border and triggered an ongoing months-long cleanup.

“We acknowledge that we’ve had previous incidents and as I mentioned earlier, no incident is acceptable to us. And we want to be sure that something like this isn’t going to happen again,” Salsman said in response to a question about a 2021 Government Accountability Office report that found the severity of spills along the Keystone pipeline have worsened in recent years.

Salsman didn’t offer a direct explanation beyond saying that the root cause of each spill had been identified. But environmentalists and other critics of Keystone, which stretches from Canada to Texas, have raised concerns about the pipeline’s pressure.

A special federal permit has allowed segments of Keystone to operate at a higher stress level than what is generally allowed, as long as TC Energy met dozens of conditions. Typically, pipelines must only operate at pressures of 72% of its specified minimum yield strength — the stress level at which a steel pipeline will begin to deform, according to the GAO, a nonpartisan federal watchdog. Keystone was authorized to 80%.

In the wake of the spill, federal regulators have ordered TC Energy to reduce pressure on the pipeline and conduct safety testing on an over-1,000 mile long segment of the pipeline stretching from the Canadian border down to Oklahoma. TC Energy last month said “bending stress on the pipe” and “a weld flaw” led to the Dec. 7 spill, which occurred near Washington along the Kansas-Nebraska border.

A third-party “root cause” report is expected to be finished in the coming weeks, Salsman said, adding that TC Energy expects to make the report publicly available.

State Rep. Lindsay Vaughn, an Overland Park Democrat, said the company’s statements about taking safety seriously and commitment to cleaning up the spill are “all well and good.” But she voiced frustration with Salman’s answers.

“I do appreciate TC Energy’s willingness to speak to the committee but I do feel like a lot of the answers to my questions were evasive and we are still hearing from TC Energy what TC Energy wants to hear,” Vaughn said.

State Rep. Leo Delperdang, a Wichita Republican who chairs the House Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee, said he still didn’t have an answer to how many similar welds on similar pieces of pipe are on the pipeline. Salsman told lawmakers the welding was done in a shop and that steps have been taken to check for cracks in other parts of the pipeline.

“That weld was put together in a fabrication shop. You’re not going to get a better weld,” Delperdang told reporters. “So how many other flanges out here are in the same shape? I am concerned about that.”

Salsman brushed off attempts by reporters to question him after the hearing.

Some legislators commended TC Energy, however. During a Kansas Senate hearing on Tuesday, state Sen. Elaine Bowers, a Concordia Republican whose district includes the spill site, indicated her constituents were satisfied with the response effort.

And state Sen. Rob Olson, an Olathe Republican who chairs the Kansas Senate Utilities Committee, was effusive in his praise. He thanked TC Energy for “doing a good job,” and said “accidents happen.”

“As a Kansan, as a taxpayer, thanks for getting on site, getting it taken care of,” Olson said. “We can talk about what happened later.”

The spill transformed a rural area near Washington into a 24-7 hub of activity, with hundreds of workers descending on the spill site. Salsman described an extensive remediation process that he called an “all hands” effort for the company.

About 95% of the oil has been removed, Salsman said. He estimated the total cost of the clean up will ultimately be $480 million and that local agencies involved in the response will be compensated.

A no-fly zone remains in place over the site, Salsman confirmed. The no-fly zone has been a source of frustration from media and others who say the restrictions are at odds with TC Energy’s professed commitment to transparency. Salsman said having drones over the site would be distracting to workers.

While landowners have been compensated by TC Energy, Salsman didn’t say how much has been paid out.

“I don’t know the specifics off hand of the agreements we have signed with the landowners, but I would say that we will fully compensate them for the damages and access to their properties,” Salsman said.

State. Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, pressed Salsman to say whether TC Energy had entered into leases for access to property but included non-disclosure rules within those agreements that restricted the ability of owners to share information with lawmakers, the press, their neighbors and others. Salsman responded he didn’t know “off-hand the specifics” of the agreements but promised to provide the Legislature with an answer.

Salsman said the company expects major cleanup work to conclude within the next couple months, followed by a few more months of “additional effort.” But he wouldn’t say exactly when the cleanup would be over, eventually telling Carmichael that it is not entirely within the company’s control.

“The answer is you don’t know,” Carmichael said.

The Star’s Natalie Wallington contributed reporting