# COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION CORP — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2000-01-11

**Citation:** PHMSA Report 20000023  
**Type / status:** incident / historical  
**Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration  
**Effective:** 2000-01-11  
**Published:** 2000-02-08

Gas transmission and gathering incident in BETHLEHEM, HUNTERDON County, NJ. Reported cause: DAMAGE BY OUTSIDE FORCE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, $70,000 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: not significant, not serious.

## Document text

Gas transmission and gathering incident in BETHLEHEM, HUNTERDON County, NJ. Reported cause: DAMAGE BY OUTSIDE FORCE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, $70,000 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: 20000023.

Operator ID: 2616.

Reported incident date: 20000111.

Cause detail: WHILE DRIVING A PIECE OF PIPE IN THE GROUND TO ANCHOR A DRILLING MACHINE, A CONTRACTOR PUNCTURED THE PIPELINE.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE — THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE.

PHMSA indexed costs: $70,000 reported total cost, $47,304.337 in 1984 dollars, $116,496.023 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/bea0164f-672a-475e-986b-8e45e9634dbf?download=true&filename=Gas%20Transmission%20%26%20Gathering%20Incident%20Data%20-%20mid%201984%20to%202001.zip>
- Source ID: `phmsa-pipeline-incidents`
- SHA-256: `af7b391a38042d6eab030793a838aad22c4b240fea20ce933be4870339fc36b3`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z
- Exported: 2026-08-23T18:24:11.651Z
- Document slug: `phmsa-incident-d69e9ecc36f795b493ca8b23`

### Source metadata

```json
{
  "recordKind": "pipeline_incident",
  "datasetType": "gas_transmission_gathering",
  "datasetLabel": "Gas transmission and gathering",
  "datasetPeriod": "mid 1984 to 2001",
  "report": {
    "number": "20000023",
    "supplementalNumber": null,
    "type": null,
    "receivedDate": "2000-02-08",
    "receivedDateRaw": "20000208"
  },
  "operator": {
    "id": "2616",
    "name": "COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION CORP"
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2000-01-11",
    "dateRaw": "20000111"
  },
  "location": {
    "city": "BETHLEHEM",
    "county": "HUNTERDON",
    "state": "NJ",
    "postalCode": "8803",
    "latitude": null,
    "longitude": null,
    "type": null,
    "details": {},
    "facilityName": null
  },
  "cause": {
    "category": "DAMAGE BY OUTSIDE FORCE",
    "details": {
      "NARRATIVE": "WHILE DRIVING A PIECE OF PIPE IN THE GROUND TO ANCHOR A DRILLING MACHINE, A CONTRACTOR PUNCTURED THE PIPELINE."
    }
  },
  "consequences": {
    "fatalities": 0,
    "injuries": 0,
    "commodity": null,
    "release": null,
    "propertyDamage": 70000,
    "estimatedOperatorCost": null,
    "estimatedEmergencyCost": null,
    "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null,
    "ignition": null,
    "explosion": null,
    "evacuated": null,
    "raw": {
      "FAT": "0",
      "INJ": "0",
      "PRPTY": "70000"
    }
  },
  "provenance": {
    "viewId": "27nc-rsge",
    "viewUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge",
    "assetId": "bea0164f-672a-475e-986b-8e45e9634dbf",
    "archiveFilename": "Gas Transmission & Gathering Incident Data - mid 1984 to 2001.zip",
    "archiveSha256": "d709bdb4092d232ffeb0c3ed574174cf59a5109883cc5ed4ba9083121c13e212",
    "memberPath": "incident_gas_transmission_gathering_mid1984_2001.txt",
    "memberSha256": "7c2b38f16d35434acea785b7a31b308bcb50c50a9f4868c3fa39e17648aee9a0",
    "rowNumber": 1340,
    "rowSha256": "2a977a33b4469ef8014053158fe90b50e67881127637bb57eda7339f5aa6d06c"
  },
  "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": null,
      "eightSubcategory": null
    },
    "costs": {
      "reported": 70000,
      "in1984Dollars": 47304.3366692327,
      "currentYearDollars": 116496.022581472
    },
    "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": "gtgg1986to2001.xlsx",
      "sheet": "gtgg1986to2001",
      "rowNumber": 1126,
      "rowSha256": "206dd13b26a5594c8255650f1773798d95fca529eb703898024c543d9b7b734b"
    }
  },
  "jurisdiction": "US",
  "operatorName": "COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION CORP"
}
```