Pipeline
Keystone pipeline, Amherst — crude oil spill
16 November 2017
Amherst, South Dakota, United States
What happened
TransCanada's Keystone Phase 1 crude pipeline leaked an estimated 407,000 gallons onto farmland near Amherst, South Dakota, after a mechanical weight installed during 2008 construction damaged the pipe's corrosion-resistant coating and caused a rupture. PHMSA issued a corrective action order finding continued operation would be hazardous without immediate remedial steps, and allowed only reduced-pressure restart. This was an accidental pipeline failure, not an attack.
When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.
- Evidence
- Documented
- Confidence
- High
- Infrastructure
- Pipeline
- Latitude
- 45.0500°
- Longitude
- -98.2400°
Attribution
Responsibility has not been established in the cited reporting.