# MARATHON PIPE LINE LLC — Hazardous liquid — incident on 2008-09-03

**Citation:** PHMSA Report 20080292  
**Type / status:** incident / historical  
**Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration  
**Effective:** 2008-09-03  
**Published:** 2008-09-03

Hazardous liquid incident in ASHMORE, COLES County, IL. Reported cause: 19. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, YES ULTRA LOW SULFUR DIESEL released, $2,936,068 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 ASHMORE, COLES County, IL. Reported cause: 19. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, YES ULTRA LOW SULFUR DIESEL released, $2,936,068 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: 20080292.

Operator ID: 32147.

Reported incident date: 9/3/2008.

Cause detail: PIPE SEAM WELD

Cause detail: THE FINDLAY OPERATIONS CENTER RECEIVED A SUCTION AND DISCHARGE PRESSURE DEVIATION ALARMS AT ASHMORE STATION. A CPM LEAK ALARM FOLLOWED SHORTLY AFTER AND THE WABASH SYSTEM WAS IMMEDIATELY SHUTDOWN. SHUTDOWN OF THE SYSTEM WAS INITIATED 36 SECONDS AFTER CPM ALARM AND FLOW WAS STOPPED 11 SECONDS LATER. THE WABASH EXPERIENCED A FAILURE 100 YARDS DOWNSTREAM OF ASHMORE STATION. THE LINE WAS TURNED FROM CHAMPAIGN TO HAMMOND IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO FAILURE. ANALYSIS OF THE PIPE REVEALED THAT THE FAILURE MECHANISM WAS A DEFORMATION ANOMALY THAT WAS CENTERED ADJACENT TO THE LONGITUDINAL ERW SEAM WITH A SHEAR CRACK THAT FORMED ON THE OUTSIDE DIAMTER OF THE PIPE DUE TO RE-ROUNDING OF THE DEFORMATION. A LONGITUDINAL SEAM SPLIT DID OCCUR, AND WAS THE PRIMARY CONTRIBUTOR TO THE VOLUME RELEASED; HOWEVER, THE SEAM SPLIT WAS SECONDARY TO THE DEFORMATION ANOMALY CENTERED ADJACENT TO THE LONGITUDINAL ERW SEAM. A REVISED FINAL REPORT IS BEING SUBMITTED THIS 23RD DAY OF MARCH, 2010 CHANGING THE CAUSE FROM MISCELLANEOUS TO RUPTURE, LONGITUDINAL SEAM SPLIT. THE DEFORMATION IS BELIEVED TO HAVE OCCURRED DURING THE ORIGINAL COMMISSIONING HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE TEST. THEREFORE, CONSTRUCTION DEFECT WAS SELECTED THOUGH NEITHER OPTION AVAILABLE IS TRULY REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SITUATION. POOR WORKMANSHIP WAS SELECTED AS THE SPECIFIC CONSTRUCTION DEFECT SINCE THE DEFORMATION OCCURRED DURING THE ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION AND THE CRACKING PROPAGATION OCCURRED FROM REROUNDING DURING HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE TESTS. BECAUSE THIS REPORTING FORM DOES NOT ALLOW FOR REPORTING OF MINUTES IN QUESTION G3, THE DATA HAS BEEN INPUT AS LEAK DURATION OF 1 HOUR. HOWEVER, AS NOTED IN THIS NARRATIVE, THE LINE WAS SHUTDOWN UPON THE ALARM SIGNALING A FAILURE. WATER CONTAMINATION IS ESTIMATED AT LESS THAN A BARREL, BUT DUE TO THE CONSTRAINTS OF THE FORM, IT IS LOGGED AS 1 BARREL. RUPTURE PROPOGATION LENGTH WAS DETERMINED TO BE 70 INCHES, WHICH IS 5.8 FEET. DUE TO CONSTRAINTS ON THE FORM, PROPOGATION LENGTH WAS ROUNDED UP TO 6 FEET. MARATHON REPORTED A SECOND NRC REPORT (#882650) UPDATING SPILL VOLUME.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: MATERIAL FAILURE OF PIPE OR WELD — PIPE SEAM.

PHMSA indexed costs: $2,936,068 reported total cost, $1,636,950.371 in 1984 dollars, $4,031,304.968 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: <https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge/files/928038f8-523b-4003-aeff-79675b193086?download=true&filename=Hazardous%20Liquid%20Accident%20Data%20-%20January%202002%20to%20December%202009.zip>
- Source ID: `phmsa-pipeline-incidents`
- SHA-256: `d3579eabe90f3734df088694877cc8fd6874672e7354a6f244ec2b8e4d837b70`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z
- Exported: 2026-08-25T20:32:07.059Z
- Document slug: `phmsa-incident-bb5128c6ca8a869195a4f98c`

### Source metadata

```json
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  "datasetType": "hazardous_liquid",
  "datasetLabel": "Hazardous liquid",
  "datasetPeriod": "January 2002 to December 2009",
  "report": {
    "number": "20080292",
    "supplementalNumber": null,
    "type": null,
    "receivedDate": null,
    "receivedDateRaw": null
  },
  "operator": {
    "id": "32147",
    "name": "MARATHON PIPE LINE LLC"
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2008-09-03",
    "dateRaw": "9/3/2008"
  },
  "location": {
    "city": "ASHMORE",
    "county": "COLES",
    "state": "IL",
    "postalCode": "61912",
    "latitude": 39.523801,
    "longitude": -88.070495,
    "type": null,
    "details": {},
    "facilityName": null
  },
  "cause": {
    "category": "19",
    "details": {
      "CAUSE_TXT": "PIPE SEAM WELD",
      "NARRATIVE": "THE FINDLAY OPERATIONS CENTER RECEIVED A SUCTION AND DISCHARGE PRESSURE DEVIATION ALARMS AT ASHMORE STATION. A CPM LEAK ALARM FOLLOWED SHORTLY AFTER AND THE WABASH SYSTEM WAS IMMEDIATELY SHUTDOWN. SHUTDOWN OF THE SYSTEM WAS INITIATED 36 SECONDS AFTER CPM ALARM AND FLOW WAS STOPPED 11 SECONDS LATER. THE WABASH EXPERIENCED A FAILURE 100 YARDS DOWNSTREAM OF ASHMORE STATION. THE LINE WAS TURNED FROM CHAMPAIGN TO HAMMOND IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO FAILURE. ANALYSIS OF THE PIPE REVEALED THAT THE FAILURE MECHANISM WAS A DEFORMATION ANOMALY THAT WAS CENTERED ADJACENT TO THE LONGITUDINAL ERW SEAM WITH A SHEAR CRACK THAT FORMED ON THE OUTSIDE DIAMTER OF THE PIPE DUE TO RE-ROUNDING OF THE DEFORMATION. A LONGITUDINAL SEAM SPLIT DID OCCUR, AND WAS THE PRIMARY CONTRIBUTOR TO THE VOLUME RELEASED; HOWEVER, THE SEAM SPLIT WAS SECONDARY TO THE DEFORMATION ANOMALY CENTERED ADJACENT TO THE LONGITUDINAL ERW SEAM. A REVISED FINAL REPORT IS BEING SUBMITTED THIS 23RD DAY OF MARCH, 2010 CHANGING THE CAUSE FROM MISCELLANEOUS TO RUPTURE, LONGITUDINAL SEAM SPLIT. THE DEFORMATION IS BELIEVED TO HAVE OCCURRED DURING THE ORIGINAL COMMISSIONING HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE TEST. THEREFORE, CONSTRUCTION DEFECT WAS SELECTED THOUGH NEITHER OPTION AVAILABLE IS TRULY REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SITUATION. POOR WORKMANSHIP WAS SELECTED AS THE SPECIFIC CONSTRUCTION DEFECT SINCE THE DEFORMATION OCCURRED DURING THE ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION AND THE CRACKING PROPAGATION OCCURRED FROM REROUNDING DURING HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE TESTS. BECAUSE THIS REPORTING FORM DOES NOT ALLOW FOR REPORTING OF MINUTES IN QUESTION G3, THE DATA HAS BEEN INPUT AS LEAK DURATION OF 1 HOUR. HOWEVER, AS NOTED IN THIS NARRATIVE, THE LINE WAS SHUTDOWN UPON THE ALARM SIGNALING A FAILURE. WATER CONTAMINATION IS ESTIMATED AT LESS THAN A BARREL, BUT DUE TO THE CONSTRAINTS OF THE FORM, IT IS LOGGED AS 1 BARREL. RUPTURE PROPOGATION LENGTH WAS DETERMINED TO BE 70 INCHES, WHICH IS 5.8 FEET. DUE TO CONSTRAINTS ON THE FORM, PROPOGATION LENGTH WAS ROUNDED UP TO 6 FEET. MARATHON REPORTED A SECOND NRC REPORT (#882650) UPDATING SPILL VOLUME."
    }
  },
  "consequences": {
    "fatalities": 0,
    "injuries": 0,
    "commodity": "ULTRA LOW SULFUR DIESEL",
    "release": "YES",
    "propertyDamage": 2936068,
    "estimatedOperatorCost": null,
    "estimatedEmergencyCost": null,
    "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null,
    "ignition": null,
    "explosion": null,
    "evacuated": null,
    "raw": {
      "FATAL": "0",
      "INJURE": "0",
      "SPILLED": "YES",
      "LOSS": "770",
      "PRPTY": "2936068"
    }
  },
  "provenance": {
    "viewId": "27nc-rsge",
    "viewUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge",
    "assetId": "928038f8-523b-4003-aeff-79675b193086",
    "archiveFilename": "Hazardous Liquid Accident Data - January 2002 to December 2009.zip",
    "archiveSha256": "a2b2cdba25ba93b241fa8f3c63a67779f3070c7522d5936b53fa6913820694d8",
    "memberPath": "accident_hazardous_liquid_jan2002_dec2009.txt",
    "memberSha256": "8340acd748efe1e334483f11a79d2c39112815b75d7342c4b920f6dea0f55421",
    "rowNumber": 2566,
    "rowSha256": "2ad43fa8fb57057100ecfd9a72cf132f22b6e085d53c2bf5c9663768172d0e2d"
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  "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": "PIPE SEAM",
      "eightCategory": "MATERIAL FAILURE OF PIPE OR WELD",
      "eightSubcategory": "PIPE SEAM"
    },
    "costs": {
      "reported": 2936068,
      "in1984Dollars": 1636950.3711231,
      "currentYearDollars": 4031304.9675029
    },
    "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": "hl2002to2009.xlsx",
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    }
  },
  "jurisdiction": "US",
  "operatorName": "MARATHON PIPE LINE LLC"
}
```
