# ELIZABETHTOWN GAS CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2015-01-15 **Citation:** PHMSA Report 20150023 **Type / status:** incident / historical **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** 2015-01-15 **Published:** 2015-02-16 Gas transmission and gathering incident in HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, HUNTERDON County, NJ. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 4669.8 NATURAL GAS released, $60,000 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: significant incident, not serious. ## Document text Gas transmission and gathering incident in HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, HUNTERDON County, NJ. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 4669.8 NATURAL GAS released, $60,000 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: 20150023. Operator ID: 4350. Reported incident date: 1/15/2015 14:00. Location detail: 9-15 Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY OPERATOR'S CONTRACTOR (SECOND PARTY) Cause detail: EXCAVATION ISSUE Cause detail: IMPROPER EXCAVATION PRACTICE NOT LISTED ABOVE Cause detail: THE COMPANY CONTRACTOR SHEARED OFF A 2 INCH BLOW-OFF VALVE CAUSING A GAS RELEASE DURING EXCAVATION ACTIVITIES WITH MECHANIZED EQUIPMENT ALONG THE 12 INCH GILBERT II STEEL GAS TRANSMISSION PIPELINE JUST NORTH OF THE EXISTING 10 INCH GII-18 VALVE. NOTE FOR PART G: THE CONTRACTOR ORIGINALLY NOTIFIED THE NJ ONE CALL CENTER ON 10/28/14 OF THE INTENT TO EXCAVATE AND TICKET 143012494 WAS ISSUED AS INDICATED. HOWEVER, UNDER NEW JERSEY REGULATIONS THAT TICKET EXPIRED ON 1/6/15. THE CONTRACTOR MADE A SECOND NOTIFICATION TO EXCAVATE ON 1/12/2015 AND WAS GIVEN TICKET # 150121636 WHICH HAD A DIG START DATE OF 1/16/2015. SO THE ONE CALL CENTER WAS NOTIFIED BUT NEITHER TICKET WAS LEGALLY IN FORCE AT THE TIME OF THE EXCAVATION UNDER NEW JERSEY REGULATIONS. PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious. PHMSA standardized cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE — OPERATOR/CONTRACTOR EXCAVATION DAMAGE. PHMSA indexed costs: $98,000 reported total cost, $61,079.119 in 1984 dollars, $118,359.504 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: `2ac65039a53d3e0235e5cc923959719a9a4bc59273f45488b76dad0f637f6cfa` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z - Exported: 2026-08-26T05:42:58.865Z - Document slug: `phmsa-incident-de713661e97c449ef1893daf` ### Source metadata ```json { "recordKind": "pipeline_incident", "datasetType": "gas_transmission_gathering", "datasetLabel": "Gas transmission and gathering", "datasetPeriod": "January 2010 to present", "report": { "number": "20150023", "supplementalNumber": "16657", "type": "ORIGINAL FINAL", "receivedDate": "2015-02-16", "receivedDateRaw": "2/16/2015" }, "operator": { "id": "4350", "name": "ELIZABETHTOWN GAS CO" }, "incident": { "date": "2015-01-15", "dateRaw": "1/15/2015 14:00" }, "location": { "city": "HOLLAND TOWNSHIP", "county": "HUNTERDON", "state": "NJ", "postalCode": "08848", "latitude": 40.61061, "longitude": -75.153436, "type": "PIPELINE RIGHT-OF-WAY", "details": { "DESIGNATED_NAME": "9-15" }, "facilityName": "GILBERT 12\"" }, "cause": { "category": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "details": { "CAUSE_DETAILS": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY OPERATOR'S CONTRACTOR (SECOND PARTY)", "ROOT_CAUSE_CATEGORY": "EXCAVATION ISSUE", "ROOT_CAUSE_TYPE": "IMPROPER EXCAVATION PRACTICE NOT LISTED ABOVE", "NARRATIVE": "THE COMPANY CONTRACTOR SHEARED OFF A 2 INCH BLOW-OFF VALVE CAUSING A GAS RELEASE DURING EXCAVATION ACTIVITIES WITH MECHANIZED EQUIPMENT ALONG THE 12 INCH GILBERT II STEEL GAS TRANSMISSION PIPELINE JUST NORTH OF THE EXISTING 10 INCH GII-18 VALVE. NOTE FOR PART G: THE CONTRACTOR ORIGINALLY NOTIFIED THE NJ ONE CALL CENTER ON 10/28/14 OF THE INTENT TO EXCAVATE AND TICKET 143012494 WAS ISSUED AS INDICATED. HOWEVER, UNDER NEW JERSEY REGULATIONS THAT TICKET EXPIRED ON 1/6/15. THE CONTRACTOR MADE A SECOND NOTIFICATION TO EXCAVATE ON 1/12/2015 AND WAS GIVEN TICKET # 150121636 WHICH HAD A DIG START DATE OF 1/16/2015. SO THE ONE CALL CENTER WAS NOTIFIED BUT NEITHER TICKET WAS LEGALLY IN FORCE AT THE TIME OF THE EXCAVATION UNDER NEW JERSEY REGULATIONS." } }, "consequences": { "fatalities": 0, "injuries": 0, "commodity": "NATURAL GAS", "release": "4669.8", "propertyDamage": 60000, "estimatedOperatorCost": 0, "estimatedEmergencyCost": 10000, "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null, "ignition": "NO", "explosion": "NO", "evacuated": 6, "raw": { "FATAL": "0", "INJURE": "0", "UNINTENTIONAL_RELEASE": "4669.8", "EST_COST_PROP_DAMAGE": "60000", "PRPTY": "98000" } }, "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": 1376, "rowSha256": "061f74428b1d591ecdcb59aa6758bed6850fe8528af13399bbb6a096961593ac" }, "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": true, "serious": false }, "standardizedCause": { "sevenCategory": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "sevenSubcategory": "OPERATOR/CONTRACTOR EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "eightCategory": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "eightSubcategory": "OPERATOR/CONTRACTOR EXCAVATION DAMAGE" }, "costs": { "reported": 98000, "in1984Dollars": 61079.11909339007, "currentYearDollars": 118359.5039456027 }, "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": 622, "rowSha256": "5aea496a533348c7eec6b1fe9f10fef3d75ded8fb16b6c8c267f86ec18763063" } }, "jurisdiction": "US", "operatorName": "ELIZABETHTOWN GAS CO" } ```