Regulators cut pressure on pipeline after Kansas oil spill

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — U.S. government regulators have stopped allowing a large part of the Keystone oil pipeline to operate at higher-than-normal pressures following a massive oil spill in northeastern Kansas in December 2022. The order this week from the U.S. Department of Transportation covers 1,220 miles of the Keystone pipeline in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Illinois. Regulators already were requiring lower pressures for 96 miles of the pipeline from southern Nebraska into central Kansas, including the spill site in Washington County. Regulators allowed higher than normal maximum pressures starting in 2017. The latest order comes ahead of the Kansas Legislature’s first hearings on the spill scheduled for Tuesday (March 14, 2023).