Nearly 140,000 gallons of diesel fuel mix leaked from an oil pipeline into a farm field in Iowa on Wednesday (January 25) morning—the day following the president’s orders to push through two other pipelines.
The pipeline, which belongs to Magellan Midstream Partners, ruptured in Worth County, Iowa, about 200 miles northeast of where the Dakota Access Pipeline would enter the state from South Dakota. The spill’s cause remains unknown, but an investigation is ongoing. The incident did not cause any injuries or evacuations.
Clean-up crews have been gathering the spilled oil and will soon begin removing any contaminated soil. So far, the product doesn’t appear to have entered surface waters, said Jeff Vansteenburg of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to ABC News. A creek and wildlife preservation area nearby are also safe, he explained at a press conference, according to NPR.
Leaks and ruptures are a main concern for pipeline opponents—especially the water protectors battling the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines. While the spill wasn’t a “major disaster,” according to Jesse Coleman, a researcher for Greenpeace who spoke to the Guardian, it highlights the inherent risks associated with pipelines.
“You can never really rehabilitate an area that got soaked in gasoline. Even this spill, it can’t be cleaned up,” Coleman told the Guardian. “That gives you some idea of what will happen when the Dakota Access pipeline or the Keystone XL pipeline fails. It’s irreversible.”