An oil spill in a creek in northeastern Kansas shut down a major pipeline that carries oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast, briefly causing oil prices to rise.

Canada-based TC Energy said it shut down its Keystone system Wednesday night following a drop in pipeline pressure. It said oil spilled into a creek in Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Kansas City.

The company estimated the spill’s size at about 14,000 barrels and said the affected pipeline segment had been “isolated” and the oil contained at the site with booms, or barriers. It did not say how the spill occurred.

“People are sometimes not aware of the havoc that these things can wreak until the disaster happens,” said Zack Pistora, who lobbies the Kansas Legislature for the Sierra Club’s state chapter.

Concerns that spills could pollute waterways spurred opposition to plans by TC Energy to build another crude oil pipeline in the Keystone system, the 1,200-mile (1,900-kilometer) Keystone XL, which would have cut across Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.

Critics also argued that using crude from western Canada’s oil sands would worsen climate change, and President Joe Biden’s cancelation of a U.S. permit for the project led the company to pull the plug last year.

In 2019, the Keystone pipeline leaked an estimated 383,000 gallons (1.4 million liters) of oil in eastern North Dakota.

Jane Kleeb, who founded the Bold Nebraska environmental and landowner rights group that campaigned against the Keystone XL, said there have been at least 22 spills along the original Keystone pipeline since it began service in 2010. She said federal studies have shown the type of heavy tar sands oil the pipeline carries can be especially difficult to clean up in water because it tends to sink.

“All oil spills are difficult, but tar sands in particular are very toxic and very difficult, so I’m awfully concerned,” said Kleeb, who is also the Nebraska Democratic Party’s chair.

But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said there were no known effects yet on drinking water wells or the public, and the oil didn’t move from the creek to larger waterways. Randy Hubbard, the Washington County Emergency Management coordinator, said there were no evacuations ordered because the break occurred in rural pastureland.

TC Energy said it had set up environmental monitoring at the site, including around-the-clock air quality monitoring.

“Our primary focus right now is the health and safety of onsite staff and personnel, the surrounding community, and mitigating risk to the environment,” a company statement said.

Oil prices briefly surged at midday Thursday amid news of the spill, with the cost of a barrel of oil for near-term contracts rising by nearly 5%, and above the cost of oil contracts further into the future. That typically suggests anxiety in the market over immediate supply.

A U.S. Energy Information Administration spokesperson said the Keystone pipeline moves about 600,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada to Cushing, Oklahoma, where it can connect to another pipeline to the Gulf Coast. That’s compared to the total of 3.5 million to 4 million barrels of Canadian oil imported into the U.S. every day.

Past Keystone spills have led to outages that lasted about two weeks, but this outage could possibly be longer because it involves a body of water, said analysts at RBC Capital Markets in a note to investors. Depending on the spill’s location, it’s possible that a portion of the pipeline could restart sooner, they said.

“It’s something to keep an eye on,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, which tracks gasoline prices. “It could eventually impact oil supplies to refiners, which could be severe if it lasts more than a few days.”

The spill was 5 miles (8 kilometers) northeast of Washington, the county seat of about 1,100 residents. Paul Stewart, an area farmer, said part of it was contained on his land using yellow booms and a dam of dirt. The spill occurred in Mill Creek, which flows into the Little Blue River.

A new 10 MW photovoltaic plant has started production in Tunisia.

The plant, installed by the Italian energy company Eni in the city of Tataouine, will contribute to the country’s decarbonisation process.

It will supply the Tunisian national electricity grid with over 20 GWh of energy per year by ensuring savings of around 211,000 tons of CO2 over the life of the plant.

The plant was built by Societe Energie Renouvelables Eni Etap, or Seree, a joint venture between Eni and Entreprise Tunisienne d’Activites Petrolieres, operating in the production of energy from renewable sources. It was inaugurated with a ceremony in the presence of the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mines of Tunisia Neila Gonji, the Italian Ambassador in Tunisia Fabrizio Saggio and local authorities.

The clean electricity produced in Tataouine will be sold to Societe Tunisienne de l’Electricite et du Gaz under a 20-year agreement.

Saggio said that the inauguration of this plant comes after the recent green light from the EU on funding the 200-km-long underwater power line project connecting Italy and Tunisia to import electricity generated from renewable energy sources.

“It shows the confirmation of Italy’s commitment to support Tunisia and the growing centrality of the renewable energy sector in the cooperation between our countries,” he told Arab News.

In Tunisia, Eni also operates the Adam photovoltaic field, with a peak capacity of 5 MW. The plant is a hybrid generation system, one of the most innovative and efficient in the world.

Eni has been present in Tunisia since 1961. The company’s upstream activities are concentrated in the southern desert areas and in the Mediterranean offshore, through the Global Gas & LNG Portfolio for the management of the Transmed gas pipeline, which connects Algeria to Italy through Tunisia

The most photographed mountains in North America are in Aspen, Colorado.

A reflective lake and two giant snow-striped mountaintops, named Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak, anchor a blissful panorama exemplified by a symphony of color that changes with the seasons.

Located just 16 km (10 miles) west of Aspen or 26 km (16 miles) from Snowmass up Maroon Creek Road off Highway 82 in a glacial valley, the 14,000-foot peaks truly epitomize the beauty of the Rocky Mountains.

The mountains are on the border between Pitkin County and Gunnison County, Colorado, United States. Maroon Peak, at 4,317 m (14,163 feet), is the 27th highest peak in Colorado; North Maroon Peak, at 4,273 m (14,019 feet), is the 50th highest.

The view of the Maroon Bells to the southwest from the Maroon Creek valley is one of the most famous scenes in Colorado, and is reputed to be the “most-photographed spot in Colorado” and one of Colorado’s premier scenic overlooks.

The peaks are located in the Maroon Bells – Snowmass Wilderness of White River National Forest.

A US Forest Service sign on the access trail refers to these mountains as “The Deadly Bells” and warns would-be climbers of “down sloping, loose, rotten and unstable” rock that “kills without warning”.

Unlike other mountains in the Rockies that are composed of granite and limestone, the Bells are composed of metamorphic sedimentary mudstone that has hardened into rock over millions of years. Mudstone is weak and fractures readily, giving rise to dangerously loose rock along almost any route.

The mudstone is responsible for the Bells’ distinctive maroon color.

The Bells got their “deadly” name in 1965 when eight people died in five separate accidents.