# EAST TENNESSEE NATURAL GAS, LLC (SPECTRA ENERGY PARTNERS, LP) — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2018-09-11 **Citation:** PHMSA Report 20180099 **Type / status:** incident / historical **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** 2018-09-11 **Published:** 2018-10-09 Gas transmission and gathering incident in WINCHESTER, FRANKLIN County, TN. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 6739 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 WINCHESTER, FRANKLIN County, TN. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 6739 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: 20180099. Operator ID: 4070. Reported incident date: 9/11/2018 19:50. Location detail: 109.14 Cause detail: MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT Cause detail: ORIGINAL REPORT: AT 7:50 PM CENTRAL TIME SEPTEMBER 11, 2018, GAS CONTROL PERSONNEL ADVISED FIELD OPERATION PERSONNEL A "CALL ATTENDANT" ALARM HAD BEEN RECEIVED FOR THE ESTILL COMPRESSOR STATION NEAR WINCHESTER, TENNESSEE. THE STATION OPERATOR ARRIVED ON SITE TO FIND SUCTION AND DISCHARGE BLOCK VALVES OPEN FOR A COMPRESSOR UNIT AND THE UNIT CASE VENT VALVE OPEN WHICH WAS VENTING GAS THROUGH THE STATION BLOWDOWN SILENCER. THE OPERATOR MANUALLY CLOSED THE UNIT SUCTION AND DISCHARGE VALVES, ALLOWING THE CASE TO COMPLETELY BLOW DOWN, CLEARING THE ALARM AND RETURNING THE UNIT TO NORMAL OPERATING STATUS. THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE EVENT IS UNDER INVESTIGATION. SUPPLEMENTAL/FINAL REPORT: 48 HR NRC REPORT 1224528 THE CAUSE WAS LOOSE WIRING AND FAULTY RELAYS. TWO UNIT VALVE CONTROL RELAYS WERE INSPECTED AND REPLACED. IN ADDITION, LOOSE WIRE CONNECTIONS WERE TIGHTENED. THE UNIT VALVES WERE THEN OPERATED THROUGH SEVERAL AUTOMATIC AND MANUAL CYCLES WITH NO ISSUES. SUPPLEMENTAL/FINAL REPORT 10/14/19: THE CAUSE WAS FAULTY CELLS IN THE BATTERY WHICH RESULTED IN A DROP IN VOLTAGE WHICH PREVENTED VALVES FROM OPENING. PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious. PHMSA standardized cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE — MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT. PHMSA indexed costs: $20,217 reported total cost, $18,878.759 in 1984 dollars, $23,180.248 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: `8beaabf591e4b0c051a1a70a3296915506fe0d8ab2fcdd96605103f45732d198` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z - Exported: 2026-08-24T15:39:30.083Z - Document slug: `phmsa-incident-c9ffa150eb4d570cc1b20878` ### Source metadata ```json { "recordKind": "pipeline_incident", "datasetType": "gas_transmission_gathering", "datasetLabel": "Gas transmission and gathering", "datasetPeriod": "January 2010 to present", "report": { "number": "20180099", "supplementalNumber": "32816", "type": "SUPPLEMENTAL FINAL", "receivedDate": "2018-10-09", "receivedDateRaw": "10/9/2018" }, "operator": { "id": "4070", "name": "EAST TENNESSEE NATURAL GAS, LLC (SPECTRA ENERGY PARTNERS, LP)" }, "incident": { "date": "2018-09-11", "dateRaw": "9/11/2018 19:50" }, "location": { "city": "WINCHESTER", "county": "FRANKLIN", "state": "TN", "postalCode": "37398", "latitude": 35.28562604, "longitude": -86.09726176, "type": "OPERATOR-CONTROLLED PROPERTY", "details": { "DESIGNATED_NAME": "109.14" }, "facilityName": "3200" }, "cause": { "category": "EQUIPMENT FAILURE", "details": { "CAUSE_DETAILS": "MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT", "NARRATIVE": "ORIGINAL REPORT: AT 7:50 PM CENTRAL TIME SEPTEMBER 11, 2018, GAS CONTROL PERSONNEL ADVISED FIELD OPERATION PERSONNEL A \"CALL ATTENDANT\" ALARM HAD BEEN RECEIVED FOR THE ESTILL COMPRESSOR STATION NEAR WINCHESTER, TENNESSEE. THE STATION OPERATOR ARRIVED ON SITE TO FIND SUCTION AND DISCHARGE BLOCK VALVES OPEN FOR A COMPRESSOR UNIT AND THE UNIT CASE VENT VALVE OPEN WHICH WAS VENTING GAS THROUGH THE STATION BLOWDOWN SILENCER. THE OPERATOR MANUALLY CLOSED THE UNIT SUCTION AND DISCHARGE VALVES, ALLOWING THE CASE TO COMPLETELY BLOW DOWN, CLEARING THE ALARM AND RETURNING THE UNIT TO NORMAL OPERATING STATUS. THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE EVENT IS UNDER INVESTIGATION. SUPPLEMENTAL/FINAL REPORT: 48 HR NRC REPORT 1224528 THE CAUSE WAS LOOSE WIRING AND FAULTY RELAYS. TWO UNIT VALVE CONTROL RELAYS WERE INSPECTED AND REPLACED. IN ADDITION, LOOSE WIRE CONNECTIONS WERE TIGHTENED. THE UNIT VALVES WERE THEN OPERATED THROUGH SEVERAL AUTOMATIC AND MANUAL CYCLES WITH NO ISSUES. SUPPLEMENTAL/FINAL REPORT 10/14/19: THE CAUSE WAS FAULTY CELLS IN THE BATTERY WHICH RESULTED IN A DROP IN VOLTAGE WHICH PREVENTED VALVES FROM OPENING." } }, "consequences": { "fatalities": 0, "injuries": 0, "commodity": "NATURAL GAS", "release": "6739", "propertyDamage": 0, "estimatedOperatorCost": 0, "estimatedEmergencyCost": 0, "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null, "ignition": "NO", "explosion": "NO", "evacuated": 0, "raw": { "FATAL": "0", "INJURE": "0", "UNINTENTIONAL_RELEASE": "6739", "EST_COST_PROP_DAMAGE": "0", "PRPTY": "20217" } }, "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": 937, "rowSha256": "6744ce6cc59ccbfaddc9d8f1754460047ae8cdd64ac671b306d42f7cade9b883" }, "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": "MATERIAL/WELD/EQUIP FAILURE", "sevenSubcategory": "MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT", "eightCategory": "EQUIPMENT FAILURE", "eightSubcategory": "MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT" }, "costs": { "reported": 20217, "in1984Dollars": 18878.758865248226, "currentYearDollars": 23180.248226950356 }, "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": 1060, "rowSha256": "90bbea991222796a069a3b997da64bfeda33dca36144e74498a08ceb98c568d7" } }, "jurisdiction": "US", "operatorName": "EAST TENNESSEE NATURAL GAS, LLC (SPECTRA ENERGY PARTNERS, LP)" } ```