After Keystone oil spill, Kansas Democrats want to cancel tax exemptions when pipelines leak
The Keystone runs beneath a soybean field on the Pannbacker farm in Washington County. It’s visible on snowy days because the warm, underground pipe melts the snow. The diagonal line cutting across the field is the pipeline. Much of the oil released on Dec. 7 spilled onto native prairie that the Pannbackers use for grazing cattle. Some oil splattered into this field. Chris Pannbacker stands on a ridge overlooking the field last month. Celia Llopis-Jepsen/Kansas News Service
The Keystone is Washington County’s biggest source of property taxes for schools and other local government, but the company didn’t pay for 10 years.
After the Keystone spilled more than half a million gallons of crude oil onto native prairie and cropland and into a creek, some Kansas lawmakers want oil companies to forfeit their tax exemptions when pipelines burst.
