{"operation":"document","citation":"CPF 320111012","title":"GREAT LAKES GAS TRANSMISSION CO — Notice of Probable Violation","source_type":"enforcement","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"historical","official":true,"published_on":"2011-07-27","effective_on":null,"summary":"CLOSED notice of probable violation citing 191.23(a)(4).","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-320111012.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-320111012.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-320111012","source_url":"https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-data/case/320111012","body":"Notice of Probable Violation involving GREAT LAKES GAS TRANSMISSION CO. PHMSA's enforcement data identifies the cited regulation as 191.23(a)(4). The case was opened on 2011-07-27 and is reported as closed as of 2013-01-16. Proposed civil penalty: $28,700. Assessed civil penalty: $28,700. Open the official case record for notices, responses, orders, and the latest status.\n\nOfficial case documents:\n\n320111012_Final Order_12312012.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/320111012/320111012_Final%20Order_12312012.pdf\n\n320111012_Final Order_12312012_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/320111012/320111012_Final%20Order_12312012_text.pdf\n\n320111012_NOPV PCP_07272011.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/320111012/320111012_NOPV%20PCP_07272011.pdf\n\n320111012_NOPV PCP_07272011_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/320111012/320111012_NOPV%20PCP_07272011_text.pdf\n\n320111012_Operator Response to NOPV PCP_08242011.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/320111012/320111012_Operator%20Response%20to%20NOPV%20PCP_08242011.pdf\n\n320111012_Final Order_12312012_text.pdf\n\nDECEMBER 31, 2012\nMr. Russell K. Girling\nPresident\nTransCanada Corporation\n450-1 Street SW\nCalgary, Alberta, Canada\nT2P 5H1\nRe: CPF No. 3-2011-1012\nDear Mr. Girling:\nEnclosed please find the Final Order issued in the above-referenced case. It makes findings of\nviolation and assesses a civil penalty of $28,700. The penalty payment terms are set forth in the\nFinal Order. This enforcement action closes automatically upon receipt of payment. Service of\nthe Final Order by certified mail is deemed effective upon the date of mailing, or as otherwise\nprovided under 49 C.F.R. § 190.5.\nThank you for your cooperation in this matter.\nSincerely,\nJeffrey D. Wiese\nAssociate Administrator\nfor Pipeline Safety\nEnclosure\ncc: Mr. Vern Meier, Great Lakes Gas Transmission Company, 717 Texas Street, Suite 2400,\nHouston, Texas 77002\nMr. Daniel Cerkoney, Great Lakes Gas Transmission Company, 717 Texas Street, Suite\n2400, Houston, Texas 77002\nMr. Ken Crowl, Great Lakes Gas Transmission Company, 717 Texas Street, Suite 2400,\nHouston, Texas 77002\nMr. David Barrett, Central Region Director, OPS\nMr. Alan Mayberry, Deputy Associate Administrator for Field Operations, OPS\nCERTIFIED MAIL - RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED\n\n\n\nU.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION\nPIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SAFETY ADMINISTRATION\nOFFICE OF PIPELINE SAFETY\nWASHINGTON, D.C. 20590\n____________________________________\n)\nIn the Matter of )\n)\nTransCanada, Great Lakes Gas ) CPF No. 3-2011-1012\nTransmission Company )\n)\nRespondent. )\n____________________________________)\nFINAL ORDER\nOn July 26-30, August 9-13, and September 20-23, 2010, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 60117, a\nrepresentative of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Office\nof Pipeline Safety (OPS), conducted an inspection of the gas integrity management program and\nsafety-related condition reporting of TransCanada, Great Lakes Gas Transmission Company\n(GLGT) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. GLGT transports over 2.2 billion cubic feet of pipeline\nquality natural gas per day through 2,115 miles of dual, high-pressure pipelines.1 TransCanada\nowns 53.6 percent of Great Lakes Gas Transmission Company.2\nAs a result of the inspection, the Director, Central Region, OPS (Director), issued to Respondent,\nby letter dated July 27, 2011, a Notice of Probable Violation and Proposed Civil Penalty\n(Notice). In accordance with 49 C.F.R. § 190.207, the Notice proposed finding that GLGT had\nviolated 49 C.F.R. § 191.23 and proposed assessing a civil penalty of $28,700 for the alleged\nviolation.\nGLGT responded to the Notice by letter dated August 24, 2011 (Response), contested the\nallegation and requested an informal conference. An informal conference was subsequently held\nwith the Central Region and GLGT personnel on January 31, 2012. An additional Response\n(Response 2) was provided on February 14, 2012.\nFINDING OF VIOLATION\nThe Notice alleged that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. Part 191, as follows:\n1 http://www.glgt.com/1_frame.htm (last visited December 5, 2012).\n2 http://www.transcanada.com/docs/Investor_Centre/2011_TCC_MDA.pdf (last visited December 5, 2012).\n\n\n\n2\nItem 1: The Notice alleged that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 191.23, which states:\n§ 191.23 Reporting safety-related conditions.\n(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, each operator\nshall report in accordance with § 191.25 the existence of any of the\nfollowing safety-related conditions involving facilities in service:\n(4) Any material defect or physical damage that impairs the\nserviceability of a pipeline that operates at a hoop stress of 20 percent or\nmore of its specified minimum yield strength.\nThe Notice alleged that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 191.23(a)(4) by failing to report a\nmaterial defect that impaired the serviceability of its pipeline as a safety related condition (SRC)\nto PHMSA as required in accordance with the reporting requirements of § 191.25. This\nregulation requires that the operator submit a Safety-Related Condition Report (SRCR) within\nfive working days after the day a representative of the operator determines that the condition\nexists, but not later than 10 working days after the day the operator discovers the condition.\nSpecifically, the Notice alleged that GLGT performed an in-line inspection (ILI) of its 36 inches\ndiameter 200 Line from CS 8 to CS 9 on May 14, 2009. GLGT received a final report from the\nvendor on July 10, 2009, that included Dent 28, which was characterized as a dent with metal\nloss.3 The pressure on the affected pipeline segment was reduced on October 23, 2009 and Dent\n28 was remediated on October 28, 2009.\nIn its response, GLGT contended that the alleged violation did not occur because indications\nfrom the ILI did not meet the standard that required reporting of a SRC. GLGT argued that\nalthough the defect was an immediate repair condition per §192.933(d), it did not impair the\nserviceability; therefore, a safety related condition report was not required. To determine\nwhether the serviceability had been impaired, an engineering assessment had to be conducted.4\nGLGT contended that based on the ILI vendor’s report, it could not confirm whether the defect\nactually impaired the serviceability of the pipeline until it was excavated. Since the ILI report\nindicated that the plain dent was 3.63 percent of the nominal diameter of 36 inches, GLGT\nmaintained that the corrosion was within acceptable limits as defined in ASME B31G and was\nnot considered an unacceptable or injurious dent per ASME B31.8, para. 851.4.1. Therefore, the\nintegrity of the pipeline was not impaired.\nI disagree. On July 10, 2009, the ILI report characterizes Dent 28 as a dent with metal loss.\nAccording to § 192.933(d), any dent with any indication of metal loss is an immediate repair\ncondition that requires an operator to temporarily reduce operating pressure or shut down the\npipeline until the operator completes the repair of these conditions. In Response 2, GLGT\nconceded that the dent was an immediate repair condition. Due to the fact that the integrity\nmanagement regulations required immediate remedial action of such a dent, the dent was\nconsidered a material defect that impaired the serviceability of the pipeline. Therefore, GLGT\nshould have reported the dent as a SRC unless it met an exception as provided by §191.23(b),\nwhich it did not. Accordingly, based upon a review of all of the evidence, I find that Respondent\nviolated 49 C.F.R. § 191.23 by failing to report a material defect that impaired the serviceability\n3 The dent was subsequently classified by GLGT as an immediate repair condition as defined in § 192.933(d)(1)(ii).\n4 Response 2 at 3.\n\n\n\n3\nof its pipeline as a SRC to PHMSA as required by the reporting requirements of § 191.25.\nThis finding of violation will be considered a prior offense in any subsequent enforcement action\ntaken against Respondent.\nUnder 49 U.S.C. § 60122, Respondent is subject to an administrative civil penalty not to exceed\n$100,000 per violation for each day of the violation, up to a maximum of $1,000,000 for any\nrelated series of violations. In determining the amount of a civil penalty under 49 U.S.C.\n§ 60122 and 49 C.F.R. § 190.225, I must consider the following criteria: the nature,\ncircumstances, and gravity of the violation, including adverse impact on the environment; the\ndegree of Respondent’s culpability; the history of Respondent’s prior offenses; the Respondent’s\nability to pay the penalty and any effect that the penalty may have on its ability to continue doing\nbusiness; and the good faith of Respondent in attempting to comply with the pipeline safety\nregulations. In addition, I may consider the economic benefit gained from the violation without\nany reduction because of subsequent damages, and such other matters as justice may require.\nThe Notice proposed a total civil penalty of $28,700 for the violation cited above.\nItem 1: The Notice proposed a civil penalty of $28,700 for Respondent’s violation of 49 C.F.R.\n§ 191.23, for failing to failing to report a material defect that impaired the serviceability of its\npipeline as a SRC to PHMSA as required by the reporting requirements of § 191.25. A dent with\nmetal loss can lead to a leak or rupture of the pipeline thus posing a risk to life, property, and the\nenvironment. The dent was located in a high consequence area. Accordingly, having reviewed\nthe record and considered the assessment criteria, I assess Respondent a civil penalty of $28,700\nfor violation of 49 C.F.R. § 191.23.\nIn summary, having reviewed the record and considered the assessment criteria for each of the\nItems cited above, I assess Respondent a total civil penalty of $28,700.\nPayment of the civil penalty must be made within 20 days of service. Federal regulations\n(49 C.F.R. § 89.21(b)(3)) require such payment to be made by wire transfer through the Federal\nReserve Communications System (Fedwire), to the account of the U.S. Treasury. Detailed\ninstructions are contained in the enclosure. Questions concerning wire transfers should be\ndirected to: Financial Operations Division (AMZ-341), Federal Aviation Administration, Mike\nMonroney Aeronautical Center, P.O. Box 269039, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73125. The\nFinancial Operations Division telephone number is (405) 954-8893.\nFailure to pay the $28,700 civil penalty will result in accrual of interest at the current annual rate\nin accordance with 31 U.S.C. § 3717, 31 C.F.R. § 901.9 and 49 C.F.R. § 89.23. Pursuant to\nthose same authorities, a late penalty charge of six percent (6%) per annum will be charged if\npayment is not made within 110 days of service. Furthermore, failure to pay the civil penalty\nmay result in referral of the matter to the Attorney General for appropriate action in a district\ncourt of the United States.\nUnder 49 C.F.R. § 190.215, Respondent has the right to submit a Petition for Reconsideration of\nthis Final Order. The petition must be sent to: Associate Administrator, Office of Pipeline\nSafety, PHMSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, East Building, 2nd Floor, Washington, DC\n\n\n\n4\n20590, with a copy sent to the Office of Chief Counsel, PHMSA, at the same address. PHMSA\nwill accept petitions received no later than 20 days after receipt of service of the Final Order by\nthe Respondent, provided they contain a brief statement of the issue(s) and meet all other\nrequirements of 49 C.F.R. § 190.215. The filing of a petition automatically stays the payment of\nany civil penalty assessed but does not stay any other provisions of the Final Order, including\nany required corrective actions. If Respondent submits payment of the civil penalty, the Final\nOrder becomes the final administrative decision and the right to petition for reconsideration is\nwaived.\nThe terms and conditions of this Final Order are effective upon service in accordance with\n49 C.F.R. § 190.5.\n___________________________________ __________________________\nJeffrey D. Wiese Date Issued\nAssociate Administrator\nfor Pipeline Safety","truncated":false,"body_characters":12165}