Only days before the U.S. State Dept. released its long-awaited environmental review of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, the company applying to build it, TransCanada Corp., experienced its third major pipeline rupture since October. TransCanada now faces a multitude of safety, engineering and construction questions as the company anxiously awaits President Barack Obama's final approval or rejection of the permit the Calgary-based firm needs to build the 1,179-mile pipeline segment connecting the tar-sands basin, near Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Neb.
The stakes are high. On Oct. 17, 2013, TransCanada subsidiary Nova Gas Transmission Ltd.'s (NGTL) north-central corridor line, west of Fort McMurray, Alberta, ruptured. On Oct. 20, the North Lateral Extension Loop began to leak in Alberta. Another NGTL incident followed on Dec. 10, on the Flat Lake Lateral Loop line. The most recent rupture—on Jan. 25, near Otterburne, Manitoba—left 4,000 without heat in brutal cold and sent flames 300 meters into the sky.