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TransCanada Adds More Crew To Clean Up Oil Spill

TransCanada

TransCanada has doubled the number of crew members working to clean up the area where the Keystone Pipeline leaked more than 200-thousand gallons of crude oil.
 
Company officials say the incident is under control and the area presents no threat to public safety. But local leaders are still concerned.
 
In a statement on Sunday, TransCanada officials say they’ve also put measures in place to deter wildlife from reaching the contamination site. They’re also using air-monitoring systems to keep a watch on air quality.
 
The company has also constructed a gravel road to the site that’s able to withstand heavy machinery and trucks carrying loads of contaminated dirt from the area.
 
State Senator Jason Frerichs represents District 1, which encompasses Marshall County where the spill occurred. He says TransCanada is responding to the spill the way it should.
 
“When it’s all said and done, if this turns out like how it happened down in Freeman where it sounds like the incident was completely taken care of, there should be no effort to give a gold metal to TransCanada for cleaning up their mess," Frerichs says. "What should be done is recognition that yes, they’re doing what they should do and we need to learn from that on why these pipelines continue to fail.”
 
Frerichs says he’s concerned about the construction of the pipeline, as well as the topography of the ground it was installed.
 
He says the ground is very flat and prone to getting saturated with no waterway to drain the area.
 
The Keystone spill occurred last Thursday morning. Meanwhile, officials with the Nebraska Public Utilities Commission are set to decide Monday whether or not to let the Keystone XL pipeline run through its  state. South Dakota approved the XL pipeline in 2010.