The oil spill that shut down a portion of the Keystone 1 pipeline in South Dakota last weekend is much bigger than initially estimated, TransCanada admitted on Thursday—almost 100 times bigger, in fact.
The fossil fuel company said the “potential volume” of the spill in Freeman, discovered by a passerby on Saturday, was about 18,600 gallons, or 400 barrels.
That estimate comes just days after TransCanada initially claimed the spill totaled about 187 gallons, or approximately 4.5 barrels.
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“The fact that the damage is even bigger than first reported proves: there is no such thing as a safe pipeline,” Lindsay Meiman, communications coordinator for the climate group 350.org, told Common Dreams. “The only safe place for fossil fuels is in the ground.”
Even at 187 gallons, the spill was already the largest since construction on the pipeline began in 2009, according to the Argus Leader. The new numbers make it one of the biggest leaks in South Dakota history.
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