Keystone Pipeline Shut Down, Loud ‘Bang’ Reported Before Disaster

The Keystone Pipeline was shut down Tuesday after a leak developed in North Dakota.

Bill Suess, manager of the spill investigation program at the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, said a pipeline worker heard a “mechanical bang” and reported a spill at 7:44 a.m., according to The New York Times.

It took about two minutes to shut down the pipeline, he said

The almost 2,700-mile-long pipeline that brings Canadian oil to the United States experienced the leak north of Fort Ransom, North Dakota, which is about 80 miles southwest of Fargo.

“As of right now, the spill is confined to an agricultural field south of the pump station,” Suess said.

South Bow, the company that manages the pipeline, said about 3,500 barrels of oil

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