# AQUILA SOUTHWEST (EX. CLAJON GAS CO) — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2001-11-07 **Citation:** PHMSA Report 20040073 **Type / status:** incident / historical **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** 2001-11-07 **Published:** 2002-02-15 Gas transmission and gathering incident in INDEPENDENCE, TX. Reported cause: 9. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, $63,342 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 INDEPENDENCE, TX. Reported cause: 9. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, $63,342 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: 20040073. Operator ID: 2436. Reported incident date: 11/7/2001. Cause detail: THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE Cause detail: LANDOWNER WAS USING A BACKHOE TO DIG DITCHES AND A HOLE FOR A NEW SEPTIC SYSTEM ON HIS PROPERTY. UPON HITTING AQUILA'S 24" PIPELINE, LANDOWNER MADE A VISUAL INSPECTION, DETERMINED THAT THE PIPE WAS NOT DAMAGED JUST HAD SOME COATING SCRAPED OFF. LANDOWNER DECIDED TO COVER HOLE AND DITCHES BACK UP UNTIL A LATER DATE. AQUILA EMPLOYEE NOTICED DIGGING ON 1-15-02 WHILE MAKING HIS ROUNDS. THIS EMPLOYEE INVESTIGATED THE DIG SITE AND DISCOVERED LANDOWNER MAY HAVE HIT AQUILA'S 24" PIPELINE. WENT BACK 1-21-02 WITH DIGGING EQUIPMENT DISCOVERED 24" PIPELINE HAD BEEN HIT. (LANDOWNER STATED THAT THE PIPE HAD ACTUALLY BEEN HIT ON 11-7-2001). REPAIR BEGAN ON 1-22-02, COMPLETED ON 1-23-02. PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious. PHMSA standardized cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE — THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE. PHMSA indexed costs: $63,342 reported total cost, $43,111.238 in 1984 dollars, $69,613.037 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: `a772af015f4e6a619989f3a2f8dc311d3f154b369526cc10d9e99fe4df4b2998` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z - Exported: 2026-08-24T09:44:19.291Z - Document slug: `phmsa-incident-cf24bec3ee10378d55d70f74` ### Source metadata ```json { "recordKind": "pipeline_incident", "datasetType": "gas_transmission_gathering", "datasetLabel": "Gas transmission and gathering", "datasetPeriod": "2002 to December 2009", "report": { "number": "20040073", "supplementalNumber": null, "type": null, "receivedDate": "2002-02-15", "receivedDateRaw": "2/15/2002" }, "operator": { "id": "2436", "name": "AQUILA SOUTHWEST (EX. CLAJON GAS CO)" }, "incident": { "date": "2001-11-07", "dateRaw": "11/7/2001" }, "location": { "city": "INDEPENDENCE", "county": null, "state": "TX", "postalCode": "77833", "latitude": 96, "longitude": null, "type": null, "details": {}, "facilityName": null }, "cause": { "category": "9", "details": { "CAUSE_DETAILS_TEXT": "THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "NARRATIVE": "LANDOWNER WAS USING A BACKHOE TO DIG DITCHES AND A HOLE FOR A NEW SEPTIC SYSTEM ON HIS PROPERTY. UPON HITTING AQUILA'S 24\" PIPELINE, LANDOWNER MADE A VISUAL INSPECTION, DETERMINED THAT THE PIPE WAS NOT DAMAGED JUST HAD SOME COATING SCRAPED OFF. LANDOWNER DECIDED TO COVER HOLE AND DITCHES BACK UP UNTIL A LATER DATE. AQUILA EMPLOYEE NOTICED DIGGING ON 1-15-02 WHILE MAKING HIS ROUNDS. THIS EMPLOYEE INVESTIGATED THE DIG SITE AND DISCOVERED LANDOWNER MAY HAVE HIT AQUILA'S 24\" PIPELINE. WENT BACK 1-21-02 WITH DIGGING EQUIPMENT DISCOVERED 24\" PIPELINE HAD BEEN HIT. (LANDOWNER STATED THAT THE PIPE HAD ACTUALLY BEEN HIT ON 11-7-2001). REPAIR BEGAN ON 1-22-02, COMPLETED ON 1-23-02." } }, "consequences": { "fatalities": 0, "injuries": 0, "commodity": null, "release": null, "propertyDamage": 63342, "estimatedOperatorCost": null, "estimatedEmergencyCost": null, "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null, "ignition": null, "explosion": null, "evacuated": null, "raw": { "FATAL": "0", "INJURE": "0", "PRPTY": "63342" } }, "provenance": { "viewId": "27nc-rsge", "viewUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge", "assetId": "3f48859a-5658-4f64-acf0-e33e632af625", "archiveFilename": "Gas Transmission & Gathering Incident Data - 2002 to December 2009.zip", "archiveSha256": "a5398d47b1204d1287bc21c0cea560025654a23aab8b89f645cf23f6b130fcaf", "memberPath": "incident_gas_transmission_gathering_2002_dec2009.txt", "memberSha256": "d5a5565b25783f342f105d255b771153f682178d1cac7099484e4f4eef90881f", "rowNumber": 240, "rowSha256": "723e50c03d85cf766ec670fd59d053448118a38f86c024b969f5014e4b8db06c" }, "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": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "sevenSubcategory": "THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "eightCategory": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "eightSubcategory": "THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE" }, "costs": { "reported": 63342, "in1984Dollars": 43111.2384967531, "currentYearDollars": 69613.0368190621 }, "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": "gtgg2002to2009.xlsx", "sheet": "gtgg2002to2009", "rowNumber": 240, "rowSha256": "64b2397a5f6e33a496f6fc6cf300ff53fafdfe46b69c8b0e074b770cd4023f7c" } }, "jurisdiction": "US", "operatorName": "AQUILA SOUTHWEST (EX. CLAJON GAS CO)" } ```