Keystone Pipeline: TransCanada To See If Other Sections Damaged

AMHERST, SD — After federal regulators weighed in on what likely caused a 210,000-gallon leak from the Keystone oil pipeline near Amherst, TransCanada Corp. said it plans to run an inspection device through the pipeline to make sure other segments don't have similar characteristics. The company will run the pipeline inspection gauge within a four-month period ordered by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.

The agency this week issued a corrective order on the oil spill and said a weight installed on the pipeline nearly a decade ago might have damaged the pipeline and coating. TransCanada was ordered to submit a plan to analyze available data on other weight locations for similarities with the leak location.

The company disclosed the buried pipeline leak on agricultural land in Marshall County on Nov. 16. State officials don't believe any surface water bodies or drinking water systems were affected.

Weights are placed on the pipeline in areas "where water could potentially result in buoyancy concerns," the report said.

TransCanada is cooperating with the federal agency and has begun "a safe, controlled and gradual startup" of the pipeline, spokesman Mark Cooper previously said.

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