NTSB Safety Recommendation Letter P-12-018

Page 1Official PDFNational Transportation Safety Board Washington, DC 20594 Safety Recommendation Date: July 25, 2012 In reply refer to: P-12-18 Mr. Cliff Johnson, CAE President Pipeline Research Council International 3141 Fairview Park, Suite 525 Falls Church, Virginia 22042 The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent Federal agency charged by Congress with investigating transportation accidents, determining their probable cause, and making recommendations to prevent similar accidents from occurring. We are providing the following information to urge your organization to take action on the safety recommendation in this letter. On July 10, 2012, the NTSB adopted its report concerning the July 25, 2010, accident, in which a segment of a 30-inch-diameter pipeline owned and operated by Enbridge Incorporated ruptured in a wetland in Marshall, Michigan. 1 Additional information about this accident and the resulting recommendations may be found in the report of the investigation, which can be accessed at our website, http://www.ntsb.gov. As a result of this investigation, the NTSB reiterated Safety Recommendation P-11-8 to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and issued 19 new recommendations, including 2 to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, 8 to PHMSA, 6 to Enbridge Incorporated, 1 to the American Petroleum Institute, 1 to the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Emergency Number Association, and the following recommendation to the Pipeline Research Council International: P-12-18 Conduct a review of various in-line inspection tools and technologies—including, but not 1 Enbridge Incorporated Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Rupture and Release, Marshall, Michigan, July 25, 2010, Pipeline Accident Report NTSB/PAR-12/01 (Washington, D.C.: National Transportation Safety Board, 2012). 8423#

Page 22 limited to, tool tolerance, the probability of detection, and the probability of identification—and provide a model with detailed step-by-step procedures to pipeline operators for evaluating the effect of interacting corrosion and crack threats on the integrity of pipelines. This recommendation is derived from the NTSB’s investigation and is consistent with the evidence we found and the analysis we performed. Chairman HERSMAN, Vice Chairman HART, and Members SUMWALT, ROSEKIND, and WEENER concurred in this recommendation. The NTSB is vitally interested in this recommendation because it is designed to prevent accidents and save lives. We would appreciate receiving a response from you within 90 days addressing the actions you have taken or intend to take to implement this recommendation. When responding, please refer to Safety Recommendation P-12-18. We encourage you to submit updates electronically to correspondence@ntsb.gov. If your response includes attachments that exceed 5 megabytes, please e-mail us at the same address for instructions. To avoid confusion, please do not submit both an electronic copy and a hard copy of the same response. Sincerely, [Original Signed] Deborah A.P. Hersman Chairman#