Fort Ransom, ND – The Keystone pipeline broke on Tuesday morning in North Dakota, with the spill confined to an agricultural field.
The cause of the rupture and volume of spilled crude oil were not immediately unclear. An employee who worked on the site near Fort Ransom listened to a “mechanical explosion” and closed the pipe in approximately two minutes, said Bill Suess, manager of the spill research program of the North Dakota Environmental Quality Department.
It was reported that oil emerged at 300 yards (274 meters) south of the pumping station in a field, Suess said. Emergency staff responded to the site, Suess said.
