Keystone pipeline owner agrees to $70 million settlement for 2022 Kansas oil spill 4%
By Calen Moore26%
7/10/2026, 7:02:25 PM
Keywords: Kansas News Service
BS Summary: This article contains 12 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Appeal to Emotion, and Self-Serving Bias, with Appeal to Authority as the most egregious example at 10.9% saturation with 59 hits. Analysis detected 424 faulty-reasoning hits from 540 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 16.3% and a BS Rank of 4% (21,199 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 96.90% of the article peer group.
Environment & Agriculture
Keystone pipeline owner agrees to $70 million settlement for 2022 Kansas oil spill
High Plains Public Radio |
Published July 10, 2026 at 2:02 PM CDT
Environmental Protection Agency
Crews work on oil recovery at Mill Creek in northern Kansas on Dec.
28, 2022.
The large oil spill in northern Kansas totaled more than 500,000 gallons that affected prairie, cropland and a creek.
The settlement includes fines and promises of additional projects to prevent further environmental damage.
Three years after one of the largest inland oil spills, the state of Kansas, federal government and the company that operates the pipeline have agreed to a settlement totalling $70 million.
The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S.
Department of Justice, and the state of Kansas reached a settlement agreement with the company South Bow responsible for the Keystone pipeline, which ruptured in 2022 in northern Kansas.
In a press release from the EPA, the agency said South Bow violated the Clean Water Act.
“This case demonstrates why the oil pipelines crossing our heartland must be maintained properly.
The oil spill blanketed land and water, rendering the waterway lifeless and useless and requiring extensive cleanup and remediation,” Jeffrey A.
Hall, Assistant Administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said in the release.
In December 2022, the pipeline that runs from Canada to Texas broke near Washington, Kansas, causing 543,000 gallons of oil to leak .
South Bow has agreed to pay a civil penalty of almost $27 million and complete projects to prevent further damage, which South Bow estimates will cost approximately $40 million.
South Bow has also agreed to contribute over $3 million to the state of Kansas towards natural resource restoration projects.
At the time of the spill, Canadian oil company TC Energy owned the pipeline.
The company spun off that part of the business into South Bow in 2024.
South Bow had said that faulty welding caused an “instantaneous rupture” spilling out tar-like crude oil affecting Kansas native prairie, cropland and Mill Creek.
The Department of Justice said in a press release that this “created an imminent and substantial threat to human health and the environment.”
According to the EPA’s legal complaint, oil residue was found in the 35 acres surrounding the discharge.
The spill killed or impacted more than 2,700 animals.
“It is important that we are all good stewards of the environment,” U.S.
Attorney Ryan A.
Kriegshauser for the District of Kansas said in the release.
“The incident had a massive impact on the State of Kansas, and we are happy that this settlement will mitigate that damage.”
Calen Moore covers western Kansas for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service.
You can email him at cmoore@hppr.org .
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio.
Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org .
Calen Moore is the western Kansas reporter for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service.
You can reach him at cmoore@hppr.org.
See stories by Calen Moore
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94%flagged-word coverageRyan A. Kriegshauser
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