South Dakota pipeline spill twice the size as first thought

The crude oil spill that occurred at the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota late last year turned out to be twice as big as initially reported.

Last November, the massive pipeline broke near Amherst and approximately 407,000 gallons of oil spilled onto Marshall County farmland. TransCanada, which owns the pipeline, initially estimated the spill at 210,000 gallons.

This new set of results makes this oil spike the seventh-largest onshore oil spill since 2010. It is also the largest Keystone oil spill to date in South Dakota.

Image of Amherst incident taken earlier today by aerial patrol as part of our initial response. For more updates, visit https://t.co/8yWI1Oq2EM pic.twitter.com/uRNtYUdVjL

— TransCanada (@TransCanada) November 16, 2017

The spill has since been cleaned up and the pipeline went back into full use 12 days after the spill.

Preliminary reports suggested that the pipeline might have been damaged during construction in 2008. A final report to show the damage done is due to appear within the next few weeks. The estimated cost to repair the leak is $9.57 million.