Apr 6, 2016 - Keystone 1 Pipeline Spills in South Dakota: Indigenous Environmental Network Responds

For Immediate Release: April 5th, 2016

Contact: Dallas Goldtooth, 708-515-6158, dallas@ienearth.org

Keystone 1 Pipeline Spills in South Dakota: Highlights Need for Full Review of Other Pipeline Projects

Bemidji, MN – TransCanada’s tar sands pipeline, Keystone 1, a completed predecessor to the now rejected Keystone XL project, was shut down over the weekend because of a detected leak in southeast South Dakota. The Keystone 1 pipeline, completed in 2010, is 2,147 miles long and transports crude oil and diluted bitumen from the canadian border to oil refineries in Illinois.

Dallas Goldtooth, Keep It In The Ground Campaign Organizer of the Indigenous Environmental Network provides the following statement in response:

“TransCanada has stated their pipelines are safe with a low risk of spills. But obviously, this isn’t true. While we are extremely happy that the Keystone XL pipeline was rejected by President Obama, this spill highlights the clear and present danger such oil infrastructures still place upon the land, sacred waters, communities and landowners along their routes. This spill also demonstrates why the Obama administration needs to require full environmental reviews of other crude oil pipeline projects such as Enbridge’s Alberta Clipper and Energy Transfer’s Dakota Access pipeline. The best proactive action to all this is to keep such fossil fuels in the ground, not extract them, and enact a just transition to renewable energy. ”