PIERRE, S.D. (AP) —  Operator TransCanada Corp. says the leak of oil from the Keystone pipeline is “controlled” and not a threat to public safety.

The company says in a news release Friday that it has sent more than 75 people to the site of a spill in a rural area of South Dakota and crews were working “around the clock.”

TransCanada says among those responding to the spill are specialists in “environmental management, metallurgy, engineering, pipeline integrity and emergency response.”

The company shut down the pipeline early Thursday after discovering the 210,000-gallon spill on agricultural land in Marshall County, just south of the border with North Dakota.

A South Dakota official says there was a roughly five-hour lag between TransCanada Corp.’s detection of a leak from its Keystone pipeline and its notification of state environmental officials.

Brian Walsh, an environmental scientist manager at the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said Friday that officials would likely look into the notification gap to determine if there was an appropriate reason.

But Walsh says the delay isn’t a major concern. He says the primary focus is that TransCanada is on site and addressing the spill.

TransCanada reported Thursday that the pipeline leaked an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil in South Dakota.

Previously…

AMHERST, S.D. (AP) — TransCanada Corp. says its Keystone pipeline has leaked an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil in South Dakota, near the North Dakota border.

The company said that crews shut down the pipeline Thursday morning after a drop in pressure was detected resulting from an oil leak that’s under investigation.

The section of pipe near the Ludden pump station in Marshall County, South Dakota, has been isolated and the company says emergency response procedures were activated.

Brian Walsh, an environmental scientist manager at the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources, says officials don’t believe the leak has affected any surface water bodies or threatened any drinking water systems.

TransCanada says it expects the pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta to Cushing, Oklahoma, and to Wood River/Patoka, Illinois, to stay shut down as the company responds to the leak.

Photo from Transcanada Twitter page