# EXPLORER PIPELINE CO — Hazardous liquid — incident on 1998-09-23 **Citation:** PHMSA Report 19980151 **Type / status:** incident / historical **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** 1998-09-23 **Published:** 1998-10-26 Hazardous liquid incident in FANNIN County, TX. Reported cause: FAILED PIPE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 20 OIL AND GASOLINE released, $120,000 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings. PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious. ## Document text Hazardous liquid incident in FANNIN County, TX. Reported cause: FAILED PIPE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 20 OIL AND GASOLINE released, $120,000 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings. Report number: 19980151. Operator ID: 4805. Reported incident date: 19980923. Location detail: 2 MILES NORTH AND 1/2 MILE WEST OF INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 69 AND COUNTY ROAD 896, NEAR LEONARD, TEXAS. Cause detail: ON SEPTEMBER 23, 1998 EXPLORER'S MAINTENANCE CONTRACTOR BEGAN EXCAVATION ALONGTHE 28" PIPELINE FOLLOWING DISCOVERY OF REFINED PRODUCT IN AN OLD ABANDONEDHAND-DUG WATER WELL LOCATED 75 FEET EAST OF THE PIPELINE NEAR LEONARD, TEXAS.THERE WERE NO OTHER VISIBLE SIGNS OF RELEASED PRODUCT IN THE VICINITY, SOEXCAVATION ALONG THE PIPELINE RIGHT-OF-WAY WAS STARTED TO LOCATE A POSSIBLELEAK. AT APPROXIMATELY 1015 HOURS ON SEPTEMBER 23, 1998 PRODUCT WASDISCOVERED AT A LOCATION 150 FEET SOUTH OF THE ABANDONED WATER WELL SIT.VACUUM TRUCKS WERE ON SITE WHILE EXCAVATION CONTINUED UNTIL THE SOURCE OF THELEAK WAS DETERMINED TO BE A SMALL CRACK ON THE BOTTOM OF THE 28" PIPE WHERE ITWAS RESTING ON ROCK. THE LINE WAS SHUT DOWN AT 1040 HOURS SEPTEMBER 24, 1998,A FULL ENCIRCLEMENT BOLT-ON PLIDCO SPLIT SLEEVE INSTALLED AND THE LINE PLACEDBACK IN OPERATION AT 1412 HOURS THE SAME DAY. AT 24-FOOT SECTION OF THEDEFECTIVE PIPE WAS REMOVED AND REPLACED ON OCTOBER 15, 1998. CLEANUPACTIVITIES ARE BEING COORDINATED WITH THE TNRCC. PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious. PHMSA standardized cause: MATERIAL/WELD/EQUIP FAILURE — UNSPECIFIED PIPE BODY OR SEAM. PHMSA indexed costs: $120,000 reported total cost, $83,813.818 in 1984 dollars, $206,407.638 in current-year dollars. PHMSA trend flags, standardized causes, and indexed costs are analytical fields added to operator-reported incident data. They do not represent final agency causal findings. ## Provenance - Official: Yes - Source: - Source ID: `phmsa-pipeline-incidents` - SHA-256: `9166603fbac843080fc169eb2c77d510d8d077364ce1a6c1a54c09df1e3b0729` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z - Exported: 2026-08-26T14:05:48.026Z - Document slug: `phmsa-incident-b8320379000eea01cef48517` ### Source metadata ```json { "recordKind": "pipeline_incident", "datasetType": "hazardous_liquid", "datasetLabel": "Hazardous liquid", "datasetPeriod": "1986 to January 2002", "report": { "number": "19980151", "supplementalNumber": null, "type": null, "receivedDate": "1998-10-26", "receivedDateRaw": "19981026" }, "operator": { "id": "4805", "name": "EXPLORER PIPELINE CO" }, "incident": { "date": "1998-09-23", "dateRaw": "19980923" }, "location": { "city": null, "county": "FANNIN", "state": "TX", "postalCode": null, "latitude": null, "longitude": null, "type": null, "details": { "SPLOC": "2 MILES NORTH AND 1/2 MILE WEST OF INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 69 AND COUNTY ROAD 896, NEAR LEONARD, TEXAS." }, "facilityName": null }, "cause": { "category": "FAILED PIPE", "details": { "NARRATIVE": "ON SEPTEMBER 23, 1998 EXPLORER'S MAINTENANCE CONTRACTOR BEGAN EXCAVATION ALONGTHE 28\" PIPELINE FOLLOWING DISCOVERY OF REFINED PRODUCT IN AN OLD ABANDONEDHAND-DUG WATER WELL LOCATED 75 FEET EAST OF THE PIPELINE NEAR LEONARD, TEXAS.THERE WERE NO OTHER VISIBLE SIGNS OF RELEASED PRODUCT IN THE VICINITY, SOEXCAVATION ALONG THE PIPELINE RIGHT-OF-WAY WAS STARTED TO LOCATE A POSSIBLELEAK. AT APPROXIMATELY 1015 HOURS ON SEPTEMBER 23, 1998 PRODUCT WASDISCOVERED AT A LOCATION 150 FEET SOUTH OF THE ABANDONED WATER WELL SIT.VACUUM TRUCKS WERE ON SITE WHILE EXCAVATION CONTINUED UNTIL THE SOURCE OF THELEAK WAS DETERMINED TO BE A SMALL CRACK ON THE BOTTOM OF THE 28\" PIPE WHERE ITWAS RESTING ON ROCK. THE LINE WAS SHUT DOWN AT 1040 HOURS SEPTEMBER 24, 1998,A FULL ENCIRCLEMENT BOLT-ON PLIDCO SPLIT SLEEVE INSTALLED AND THE LINE PLACEDBACK IN OPERATION AT 1412 HOURS THE SAME DAY. AT 24-FOOT SECTION OF THEDEFECTIVE PIPE WAS REMOVED AND REPLACED ON OCTOBER 15, 1998. CLEANUPACTIVITIES ARE BEING COORDINATED WITH THE TNRCC." } }, "consequences": { "fatalities": 0, "injuries": 0, "commodity": "OIL AND GASOLINE", "release": "20", "propertyDamage": 120000, "estimatedOperatorCost": null, "estimatedEmergencyCost": null, "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null, "ignition": "No", "explosion": "No", "evacuated": null, "raw": { "TFAT": "0", "TINJ": "0", "LOSS": "20", "PRPTY": "120000" } }, "provenance": { "viewId": "27nc-rsge", "viewUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge", "assetId": "2cb38c7d-9a3e-4074-b175-05a5cd0c44a6", "archiveFilename": "Hazardous Liquid Accident Data 1986 to January 2002.zip", "archiveSha256": "167f43ed67c6c8f8086e0f1569e3178ba5363ed16a92d07e7a5158ca10d0da81", "memberPath": "accident_hazardous_liquid_1986_jan2002.txt", "memberSha256": "5393d66148b604a624c8d99c457cc1fd518d73b60e927c9973cd3992bc2d5315", "rowNumber": 2600, "rowSha256": "ea0665d4b118f61464bb7d666ea1159fe8ac2c10112a0036a7098568186eddaa" }, "caveat": "Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings.", "operatorReported": true, "finalAgencyFinding": false, "flaggedAnalysis": { "dataAsOf": "2026-07-31", "flags": { "fireFirst": null, "significant": true, "serious": false }, "standardizedCause": { "sevenCategory": "MATERIAL/WELD/EQUIP FAILURE", "sevenSubcategory": "UNSPECIFIED PIPE BODY OR SEAM", "eightCategory": null, "eightSubcategory": null }, "costs": { "reported": 120000, "in1984Dollars": 83813.8177960483, "currentYearDollars": 206407.638244264 }, "caveat": "PHMSA trend flags, standardized causes, and indexed costs are analytical fields added to operator-reported incident data. They do not represent final agency causal findings.", "provenance": { "sourceUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/data_statistics/pipeline/PHMSA_Pipeline_Safety_Flagged_Incidents.zip", "landingPageUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/data-and-statistics/pipeline/pipeline-incident-flagged-files", "catalogUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/Pipelines-and-Hazmat/Pipeline-Incident-Flagged-Files/qdme-9bbm", "retrievalMode": "official_live", "archivedAt": null, "archiveSha256": "317e6a3e16d60b9b677efe391dc40258b5dd7ead83fb8bea74cb553cedfbbdec", "workbook": "hl1986to2001.xlsx", "sheet": "hl1986to2001", "rowNumber": 2550, "rowSha256": "2d33758249920df0bbb681f47b46b50e5f103b8ae9032a322d47697ab7dfb7c8" } }, "jurisdiction": "US", "operatorName": "EXPLORER PIPELINE CO" } ```