NTSB Safety Recommendation Letter P-12-019

Page 1Official PDFNational Transportation Safety Board Washington, DC 20594 Safety Recommendation Date: July 25, 2012 In reply refer to: P-12-19 Mr. Mark Light Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director International Association of Fire Chiefs 4025 Fair Ridge Drive Fairfax, Virginia 22033 Mr. Brian Fontes Chief Executive Officer National Emergency Number Association 1700 Diagonal Road, Suite 500 Alexandria, Virginia 22314 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 June 5, 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 recommendations to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, 8 to PHMSA, 6 to Enbridge Incorporated, 1 to the American Petroleum Institute, 1 to the Pipeline Research Council International, and the following recommendation to the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Emergency Number Association: 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 P-12-19 Inform your members about the circumstances of the Marshall, Michigan, pipeline accident and urge your members to aggressively and diligently gather from pipeline operators system-specific information about the pipeline systems in their communities and jurisdictions. 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-12-19. 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#