# PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2016-12-03 **Citation:** PHMSA Report 20160097 **Type / status:** incident / historical **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** 2016-12-03 **Published:** 2016-12-31 Gas transmission and gathering incident in CHOWCHILLA, MADERA County, CA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 3500 NATURAL GAS released, $92,000 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 Gas transmission and gathering incident in CHOWCHILLA, MADERA County, CA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 3500 NATURAL GAS released, $92,000 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: 20160097. Operator ID: 15007. Reported incident date: 12/3/2016 14:15. Location detail: MP 29.18 Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY Cause detail: NOTIFICATION ISSUE Cause detail: NO NOTIFICATION MADE TO THE ONE-CALL CENTER/811 Cause detail: ON DECEMBER 3, 2016 AT APPROXIMATELY 1415 HOURS, PG&E WAS NOTIFIED OF A THIRD-PARTY DIG IN ON LINE 118B AT APPROXIMATELY MILE POINT 29.18. THE NEAREST ADDRESS IS 4 KINGS AVE, CHOWCHILLA. LASER PRECISION LAND LEVELING WAS GRADING LAND WITH A SCRAPER AND PUNCTURED THE LINE. THE EXCAVATOR DID NOT HAVE A USA NOTIFICATION. PG&E GAS SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE ARRIVED ON-SITE AT 1434 HOURS. THE FLOW OF GAS WAS STOPPED BY CLOSING VALVES AND ISOLATING THE DAMAGED LINE. REPAIRS WERE COMPLETED AND THE LINE WAS RESTARTED BY 12/7/16 AT 1455 HOURS. THERE WERE NO GAS SERVICE INTERRUPTIONS TO CUSTOMERS. POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENT WERE REPORTED ON SITE. THERE WERE NO REPORTS OF INJURY, IGNITION, OR MEDIA. THIS INCIDENT IS BEING REPORTED TO DOT AND THE CPUC DUE TO DAMAGES ESTIMATED TO EXCEED $50K, AND THE LOSS OF GAS EXCEEDING 3 MILLION CUBIC FEET. PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious. PHMSA standardized cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE — THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE. PHMSA indexed costs: $101,950 reported total cost, $56,367.707 in 1984 dollars, $125,734.788 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: `7527925b07484378e92ce657a7565c5478d53fe8baa8ed972cd13577bca6b77f` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z - Exported: 2026-08-24T05:05:32.576Z - Document slug: `phmsa-incident-b8f4248605074c57b1c6f1c7` ### Source metadata ```json { "recordKind": "pipeline_incident", "datasetType": "gas_transmission_gathering", "datasetLabel": "Gas transmission and gathering", "datasetPeriod": "January 2010 to present", "report": { "number": "20160097", "supplementalNumber": "17520", "type": "SUPPLEMENTAL FINAL", "receivedDate": "2016-12-31", "receivedDateRaw": "12/31/2016" }, "operator": { "id": "15007", "name": "PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO" }, "incident": { "date": "2016-12-03", "dateRaw": "12/3/2016 14:15" }, "location": { "city": "CHOWCHILLA", "county": "MADERA", "state": "CA", "postalCode": "93610", "latitude": 37.12679, "longitude": -120.26072, "type": "PIPELINE RIGHT-OF-WAY", "details": { "DESIGNATED_NAME": "MP 29.18" }, "facilityName": "LINE 118B" }, "cause": { "category": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "details": { "CAUSE_DETAILS": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY", "ROOT_CAUSE_CATEGORY": "NOTIFICATION ISSUE", "ROOT_CAUSE_TYPE": "NO NOTIFICATION MADE TO THE ONE-CALL CENTER/811", "NARRATIVE": "ON DECEMBER 3, 2016 AT APPROXIMATELY 1415 HOURS, PG&E WAS NOTIFIED OF A THIRD-PARTY DIG IN ON LINE 118B AT APPROXIMATELY MILE POINT 29.18. THE NEAREST ADDRESS IS 4 KINGS AVE, CHOWCHILLA. LASER PRECISION LAND LEVELING WAS GRADING LAND WITH A SCRAPER AND PUNCTURED THE LINE. THE EXCAVATOR DID NOT HAVE A USA NOTIFICATION. PG&E GAS SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE ARRIVED ON-SITE AT 1434 HOURS. THE FLOW OF GAS WAS STOPPED BY CLOSING VALVES AND ISOLATING THE DAMAGED LINE. REPAIRS WERE COMPLETED AND THE LINE WAS RESTARTED BY 12/7/16 AT 1455 HOURS. THERE WERE NO GAS SERVICE INTERRUPTIONS TO CUSTOMERS. POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENT WERE REPORTED ON SITE. THERE WERE NO REPORTS OF INJURY, IGNITION, OR MEDIA. THIS INCIDENT IS BEING REPORTED TO DOT AND THE CPUC DUE TO DAMAGES ESTIMATED TO EXCEED $50K, AND THE LOSS OF GAS EXCEEDING 3 MILLION CUBIC FEET." } }, "consequences": { "fatalities": 0, "injuries": 0, "commodity": "NATURAL GAS", "release": "3500", "propertyDamage": 92000, "estimatedOperatorCost": 0, "estimatedEmergencyCost": 0, "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null, "ignition": "NO", "explosion": "NO", "evacuated": 0, "raw": { "FATAL": "0", "INJURE": "0", "UNINTENTIONAL_RELEASE": "3500", "EST_COST_PROP_DAMAGE": "92000", "PRPTY": "101950" } }, "provenance": { "viewId": "27nc-rsge", "viewUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge", "assetId": "2b05c2d8-d14a-4c56-ac1c-7d23a4bc31c8", "archiveFilename": "Gas Transmission & Gathering Incident Data - January 2010 to present.zip", "archiveSha256": "fe0b136ca4b00ac987a8bc2e195098accf910d97512c5fc3b59e62d9da5f674e", "memberPath": "incident_gas_transmission_gathering_jan2010_present.txt", "memberSha256": "b435f2a25718cf54c54e00294e6788c4f9c6860e02fb86355e75d294c243c4dd", "rowNumber": 1148, "rowSha256": "1b8e86ff02b31903d54bd0c4a15982abdf3d43c3b5b296fb3e909621bd1b6596" }, "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": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "sevenSubcategory": "THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "eightCategory": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "eightSubcategory": "THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE" }, "costs": { "reported": 101950, "in1984Dollars": 56367.7069546668, "currentYearDollars": 125734.788178253 }, "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": "gtggungs2010toPresent.xlsx", "sheet": "gtggungs2010toPresent", "rowNumber": 848, "rowSha256": "829816ff0d1236770442fdb0ce2232d46c54aa67e96a5038d2164a934a10301a" } }, "jurisdiction": "US", "operatorName": "PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO" } ```