# CENTERPOINT ENERGY GAS TRANSMISSION — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2012-07-14 **Citation:** PHMSA Report 20120079 **Type / status:** incident / historical **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** 2012-07-14 **Published:** 2012-08-10 Gas transmission and gathering incident in COVE, POLK County, AR. Reported cause: INCORRECT OPERATION. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 5500 NATURAL GAS released, $0 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: not significant, not serious. ## Document text Gas transmission and gathering incident in COVE, POLK County, AR. Reported cause: INCORRECT OPERATION. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 5500 NATURAL GAS released, $0 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: 20120079. Operator ID: 602. Reported incident date: 7/14/2012 9:34. Location detail: 3540+12 Cause detail: VALVE LEFT OR PLACED IN WRONG POSITION, BUT NOT RESULTING IN AN OVERPRESSURE Cause detail: CEGT COVE COMPRESSOR - ON 7/14/2012, AT APPROXIMATELY 9:34AM, A PRESSURE BLEED-OFF TRIGGERED AN UN-INTENDED EMERGENCY SHUT-DOWN (ESD) AT THE COMPRESSOR STATION. A CEGT TECHNICIAN FAILED TO RETURN ALL VALVES TO THEIR FOUND POSITION UPON COMPLETION OF THE WORK TASK RESULTING IN ACTIVATION OF THE COMPRESSOR ESD SYSTEM. UPON ACTIVATION OF THE COMPRESSOR ESD SYSTEM BOTH THE SUCTION AND DISCHARGE ESD VALVES FAILED TO CLOSE. AN INCIDENT INVESTIGATION FOUND THAT DEBRIS PRESENT IN THE VALVES CAUSED THEM TO BIND OR SEIZE EFFECTIVELY DISABLING OPERATION OF THE VALVES. PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious. PHMSA standardized cause: INCORRECT OPERATION — INCORRECT VALVE POSITION. PHMSA indexed costs: $16,575 reported total cost, $13,564.146 in 1984 dollars, $17,240.064 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: `1eb4c220f717a440df079f13d59be9b1b0436b6d036d5bd192191ef2bb90061b` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z - Exported: 2026-08-25T23:28:32.248Z - Document slug: `phmsa-incident-bd8c3738438ccf8cf2d8b960` ### Source metadata ```json { "recordKind": "pipeline_incident", "datasetType": "gas_transmission_gathering", "datasetLabel": "Gas transmission and gathering", "datasetPeriod": "January 2010 to present", "report": { "number": "20120079", "supplementalNumber": "15949", "type": "SUPPLEMENTAL FINAL", "receivedDate": "2012-08-10", "receivedDateRaw": "8/10/2012" }, "operator": { "id": "602", "name": "CENTERPOINT ENERGY GAS TRANSMISSION" }, "incident": { "date": "2012-07-14", "dateRaw": "7/14/2012 9:34" }, "location": { "city": "COVE", "county": "POLK", "state": "AR", "postalCode": "71937", "latitude": 34.431038, "longitude": -94.449205, "type": "OPERATOR-CONTROLLED PROPERTY", "details": { "DESIGNATED_NAME": "3540+12" }, "facilityName": "COVE COMPRESSOR STATION" }, "cause": { "category": "INCORRECT OPERATION", "details": { "CAUSE_DETAILS": "VALVE LEFT OR PLACED IN WRONG POSITION, BUT NOT RESULTING IN AN OVERPRESSURE", "NARRATIVE": "CEGT COVE COMPRESSOR - ON 7/14/2012, AT APPROXIMATELY 9:34AM, A PRESSURE BLEED-OFF TRIGGERED AN UN-INTENDED EMERGENCY SHUT-DOWN (ESD) AT THE COMPRESSOR STATION. A CEGT TECHNICIAN FAILED TO RETURN ALL VALVES TO THEIR FOUND POSITION UPON COMPLETION OF THE WORK TASK RESULTING IN ACTIVATION OF THE COMPRESSOR ESD SYSTEM. UPON ACTIVATION OF THE COMPRESSOR ESD SYSTEM BOTH THE SUCTION AND DISCHARGE ESD VALVES FAILED TO CLOSE. AN INCIDENT INVESTIGATION FOUND THAT DEBRIS PRESENT IN THE VALVES CAUSED THEM TO BIND OR SEIZE EFFECTIVELY DISABLING OPERATION OF THE VALVES." } }, "consequences": { "fatalities": 0, "injuries": 0, "commodity": "NATURAL GAS", "release": "5500", "propertyDamage": 0, "estimatedOperatorCost": 0, "estimatedEmergencyCost": 900, "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null, "ignition": "NO", "explosion": "NO", "evacuated": 0, "raw": { "FATAL": "0", "INJURE": "0", "UNINTENTIONAL_RELEASE": "5500", "EST_COST_PROP_DAMAGE": "0", "PRPTY": "16575" } }, "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": 1692, "rowSha256": "b969fd5812a479dca848d6ca0bef9784cbeac8fbcd3887bbdc57cb9ba8bdfc76" }, "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": false, "serious": false }, "standardizedCause": { "sevenCategory": "INCORRECT OPERATION", "sevenSubcategory": "INCORRECT VALVE POSITION", "eightCategory": "INCORRECT OPERATION", "eightSubcategory": "INCORRECT VALVE POSITION" }, "costs": { "reported": 16575, "in1984Dollars": 13564.146279069768, "currentYearDollars": 17240.064418604652 }, "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": 299, "rowSha256": "a577b30a80a8fb52c165602db46432002800fee2e36a30a75b1a4ab0b6b7005e" } }, "jurisdiction": "US", "operatorName": "CENTERPOINT ENERGY GAS TRANSMISSION" } ```