# SOUTHERN NATURAL GAS CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2015-08-11

**Citation:** PHMSA Report 20150106  
**Type / status:** incident / historical  
**Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration  
**Effective:** 2015-08-11  
**Published:** 2015-08-25

Gas transmission and gathering incident in Not Within a Municipality, TURNER County, GA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 915 NATURAL GAS released, $35,000 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 Not Within a Municipality, TURNER County, GA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 915 NATURAL GAS released, $35,000 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: 20150106.

Operator ID: 18516.

Reported incident date: 8/11/2015 9:25.

Location detail: 7.378

Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY

Cause detail: NOTIFICATION ISSUE

Cause detail: NO NOTIFICATION MADE TO THE ONE-CALL CENTER/811

Cause detail: A TURNER COUNTY (GA) ROAD GRADER WAS CLEANING DITCHES FOR NEISMITH ROAD ON AUGUST 11, 2015, AND STRUCK SOUTHERN NATURAL GAS COMPANY'S 3.5" ASHBURN PIPELINE (LINE 28), CAUSING A PUNCTURE AND RELEASE OF NATURAL GAS. THE COUNTY DID NOT MAKE ANY ONE-CALL NOTIFICATIONS PRIOR TO THE WORK. THE PIPELINE WAS ISOLATED AND ALLOWED TO BLOW DOWN IN ORDER TO MAKE REPAIRS. THE DAMAGED PIPE WAS CUT OUT WITH A NEW PIPE CYLINDER BEING INSTALLED. THE PIPELINE WAS PLACED BACK INTO SERVICE AUGUST 12, 2015.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

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

PHMSA indexed costs: $44,240 reported total cost, $23,147.002 in 1984 dollars, $54,439.177 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/2b05c2d8-d14a-4c56-ac1c-7d23a4bc31c8?download=true&filename=Gas%20Transmission%20%26%20Gathering%20Incident%20Data%20-%20January%202010%20to%20present.zip>
- Source ID: `phmsa-pipeline-incidents`
- SHA-256: `dd7abb531f1f4844680811a85c5c1674dcfdf296e18ada45be4a7a06e60f80ab`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z
- Exported: 2026-08-24T12:30:27.352Z
- Document slug: `phmsa-incident-d8611fc0f3765175e72e1ab6`

### Source metadata

```json
{
  "recordKind": "pipeline_incident",
  "datasetType": "gas_transmission_gathering",
  "datasetLabel": "Gas transmission and gathering",
  "datasetPeriod": "January 2010 to present",
  "report": {
    "number": "20150106",
    "supplementalNumber": "16844",
    "type": "ORIGINAL FINAL",
    "receivedDate": "2015-08-25",
    "receivedDateRaw": "8/25/2015"
  },
  "operator": {
    "id": "18516",
    "name": "SOUTHERN NATURAL GAS CO"
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2015-08-11",
    "dateRaw": "8/11/2015 9:25"
  },
  "location": {
    "city": "Not Within a Municipality",
    "county": "TURNER",
    "state": "GA",
    "postalCode": "31714",
    "latitude": 31.60691,
    "longitude": -83.66952,
    "type": "PIPELINE RIGHT-OF-WAY",
    "details": {
      "DESIGNATED_NAME": "7.378"
    },
    "facilityName": "ASHBURN LINE"
  },
  "cause": {
    "category": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE",
    "details": {
      "CAUSE_DETAILS": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY",
      "ROOT_CAUSE_CATEGORY": "NOTIFICATION ISSUE",
      "ROOT_CAUSE_TYPE": "NO NOTIFICATION MADE TO THE ONE-CALL CENTER/811",
      "NARRATIVE": "A TURNER COUNTY (GA) ROAD GRADER WAS CLEANING DITCHES FOR NEISMITH ROAD ON AUGUST 11, 2015, AND STRUCK SOUTHERN NATURAL GAS COMPANY'S 3.5\" ASHBURN PIPELINE (LINE 28), CAUSING A PUNCTURE AND RELEASE OF NATURAL GAS. THE COUNTY DID NOT MAKE ANY ONE-CALL NOTIFICATIONS PRIOR TO THE WORK. THE PIPELINE WAS ISOLATED AND ALLOWED TO BLOW DOWN IN ORDER TO MAKE REPAIRS. THE DAMAGED PIPE WAS CUT OUT WITH A NEW PIPE CYLINDER BEING INSTALLED. THE PIPELINE WAS PLACED BACK INTO SERVICE AUGUST 12, 2015."
    }
  },
  "consequences": {
    "fatalities": 0,
    "injuries": 0,
    "commodity": "NATURAL GAS",
    "release": "915",
    "propertyDamage": 35000,
    "estimatedOperatorCost": 2000,
    "estimatedEmergencyCost": 5000,
    "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null,
    "ignition": "NO",
    "explosion": "NO",
    "evacuated": 3,
    "raw": {
      "FATAL": "0",
      "INJURE": "0",
      "UNINTENTIONAL_RELEASE": "915",
      "EST_COST_PROP_DAMAGE": "35000",
      "PRPTY": "44240"
    }
  },
  "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": 1288,
    "rowSha256": "40588b835a6ce3a390eb5074dfd1baf5c15cbe5a22c2ffd733f2bfd02b39f9a8"
  },
  "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": 44240,
      "in1984Dollars": 23147.00197246597,
      "currentYearDollars": 54439.176545765375
    },
    "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": 704,
      "rowSha256": "28a8e5a569fa7b0f7d44b94b412de455687b535a1973187d575292aeb5e2e236"
    }
  },
  "jurisdiction": "US",
  "operatorName": "SOUTHERN NATURAL GAS CO"
}
```