Page 19 - 021718

Groton Daily Independent
Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 218 ~ 19 of 39
TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline spill cleanup on schedule
AMHERST, S.D. (AP) — TransCanada Corp. says cleanup of a massive on-shore oil spill from Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota is halfway nished.
Last November, the pipeline leaked 210,000 gallons of crude oil onto agricultural land in Marshall County, one of the largest on-shore oil spills in the U.S. since 2010.
TransCanada spokeswoman Robynn Tysver told Aberdeen American News that the work has transitioned from excavation of the Amherst site to its remediation to original condition.
“All of the excavation work at the site has been completed, and most of the impacted soil has been re- moved,” Tysver said. “We are now working to replace the top soil, with plans to seed later in the spring.”
The pipeline moves oil from eastern Alberta, Canada to Oklahoma and Illinois.
TransCanada said the cleanup is on track with its schedule. The company also has agreed to restore the roads used by trucks transporting equipment and soil.
Last month, a half-ton of contaminated soil was spilled as the result of a truck rollover. The soil has been cleaned up and the truck’s driver was charged with careless driving. A case is still open about an unknown truck driver dumping contaminated soil southwest of the leak site, according to the State Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ leak database.
A spill and activity report on the agency’s website shows that TransCanada has installed groundwater monitoring systems, which haven’t yet detected any contamination.
An investigation into the cause of the leak is ongoing.
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Information from: Aberdeen American News, http://www.aberdeennews.com
No additional charges for woman who was high in court
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A woman appearing in South Dakota’s Sixth Judicial Circuit Court on methamphet- amine charges faces no additional consequences for coming to court high on marijuana.
Twenty-three-year-old Cecilia Thunder appeared before Judge Mark Barnett earlier this week on a felony charge of ingesting meth.
The Capital Journal reports Barnett accepted Thunder’s guilty plea, then asked why she was giggling. Thunder said she was nervous.
Barnett then asked her if a drug test would show she was on meth while appearing in court. Thunder answered that it would not, but she would test positive for marijuana. Barnett ordered the urine test for Thunder, which produced the expected positive result.
Barnett told Thunder he would cut her “some slack” and not add a new drug charge. Sentencing is in a few weeks on the meth charge.
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Information from: Pierre Capital Journal, http://www.capjournal.com
Romney, favored in Senate bid, could take on outsized role By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney’s extensive resume has many Republicans looking to him to take on a role, if he’s elected Utah’s next senator, often lled by John McCain as an elder statesman and counter- weight to a president many in the GOP see as divisive and undigni ed.
Romney, the 2012 White House nominee, is among the best-known names in U.S. politics. He’s been a successful businessman, governor of heavily Democratic Massachusetts, Olympics rescuer and, more recently, one of his party’s ercest critics of President Donald Trump.
McCain was quick to praise Romney, his rival for the 2008 nomination. In a tweet Friday shortly after Romney announced his Senate bid, McCain said Romney “has shown the country what it means to lead with honor, integrity and civility. The people of #Utah and the nation need his strong voice, resolve and