Company starting to recover oil from Kansas pipeline spill

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The company operating a pipeline that spilled about 14,000 bathtubs' worth of oil into a Kansas creek during a test for potential problems is recovering at least a small portion of the crude.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that Canada-based TC Energy has recovered 2,598 barrels of oil mixed with water from the 14,000-barrel spill on a creek running through rural pastureland in Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Kansas City. Each barrel is enough to fill a household bathtub.

Last week's rupture in Kansas forced the company to shut down the Keystone system, and it hasn't said when it will come back online. The company said it is working around-the-clock to suck up spilled oil using trucks equipped with what essentially are large wet vacuums.

No one was evacuated, and officials said no drinking water was affected. The company has promised to fully comply with demands from regulators and to work until it has “fully remediated the site.”

Concerns that spills could pollute waterways spurred opposition to plans by TC Energy to build another crude oil pipeline in the same system, the 1,200-mile (1,900-kilometer) Keystone XL, across Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. President Joe Biden’s cancelation of a permit for the project led the company to pull the plug last year.

Last week's spill was the largest on the Keystone system since it began operating in 2010 and the largest onshore spill since a Tesoro Corp. pipeline rupture in North Dakota leaked 20,600 barrels in September 2013, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. The agency's pipeline safety arm last week ordered TC Energy to take corrective action.

The order said TC Energy was running an in-line inspection using a device...