{"operation":"document","citation":"CPF 320215006W","title":"KINDER MORGAN LIQUID TERMINALS, LLC — Warning Letter","source_type":"enforcement","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"historical","official":true,"published_on":"2021-02-26","effective_on":null,"summary":"CLOSED warning letter citing 195.402(a), 195.573(e).","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-320215006w.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-320215006w.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-320215006w","source_url":"https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-data/case/320215006W","body":"Warning Letter involving KINDER MORGAN LIQUID TERMINALS, LLC. PHMSA's enforcement data identifies the cited regulations as 195.402(a),  195.573(e). The case was opened on 2021-02-26 and is reported as closed as of 2021-02-26. Open the official case record for notices, responses, orders, and the latest status.\n\nOfficial case documents:\n\n320215006W_Operator Response to Notice_03252021.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/320215006W/320215006W_Operator%20Response%20to%20Notice_03252021.pdf\n\n320215006W_Warning Letter_02262021.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/320215006W/320215006W_Warning%20Letter_02262021.pdf\n\n320215006W_Warning Letter_02262021_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/320215006W/320215006W_Warning%20Letter_02262021_text.pdf\n\n320215006W_Warning Letter_02262021_text.pdf\n\nWARNING LETTER\nVIA ELECTRONIC MAIL TO: michael_garthwaite@kindermorgan.com,\ndanielle stephens@kindermorgan.com\nFebruary 26, 2021\nMr. Michael Garthwaite\nVice President – Operations and Engineering, Central Division\nKinder Morgan Liquid Terminals, LLC\n8500 W 68th St.\nArgo, Illinois 60501\nCPF 3-2021-5006W\nDear Mr. Garthwaite:\nFrom March 6th, 2017 through July 28th, 2017, representatives of the Pipeline and Hazardous\nMaterials Safety Administration (PHMSA) pursuant to Chapter 601 of 49 United States Code\n(U.S.C.) inspected the records and facilities of Kinder Morgan Liquid Terminals, LLC (KMLT)\nlocated in Chicago, Illinois; Wood River, Illinois; Indianapolis, Indiana; Dayton, Ohio; and\nCincinnati, Ohio.\nAs a result of the inspection, it is alleged that you have committed probable violations of the\nPipeline Safety Regulations, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The items inspected\nand the probable violations are:\n\n\n\n1. 2. §195.402 Procedural manual for operations, maintenance, and emergencies.\n(a) General. Each operator shall prepare and follow for each pipeline system a\nmanual of written procedures for conducting normal operations and maintenance\nactivities and handling abnormal operations and emergencies. This manual shall be\nreviewed at intervals not exceeding 15 months, but at least once each calendar year,\nand appropriate changes made as necessary to insure that the manual is effective.\nThis manual shall be prepared before initial operations of a pipeline system\ncommence, and appropriate parts shall be kept at locations where operations and\nmaintenance activities are conducted.\nKMLT failed to follow its own written procedure, T-O&M 1102, “Response to Abnormal\nOperations (Pressure & Flow Control)” (revised June 29, 2016) by not properly\nrecording the abnormal operation that occurred on October 28th, 2016, in a timely\nmanner. Specifically, this KMLT procedure requires an “incident report” to be\ncompleted and filed “no more than thirty days following the incident.” According to\nrecords provided to PHMSA by KMLT, the incident report was not completed until\nAugust 17th, 2017, which is 263 days beyond what the procedure allows.\n§195.402 Procedural manual for operations, maintenance, and emergencies.\n(a) General. Each operator shall prepare and follow for each pipeline system a\nmanual of written procedures for conducting normal operations and maintenance\nactivities and handling abnormal operations and emergencies. This manual shall be\nreviewed at intervals not exceeding 15 months, but at least once each calendar year,\nand appropriate changes made as necessary to insure that the manual is effective.\nThis manual shall be prepared before initial operations of a pipeline system\ncommence, and appropriate parts shall be kept at locations where operations and\nmaintenance activities are conducted.\nKMLT failed to follow its own written procedure, T-O&M 903, “External Corrosion\nControl for Buried or Submerged Pipelines” (revised October 29, 2015) regarding casing\nisolation. Specifically, Section 3.8 of the procedure requires testing of “…electrical\nisolation by comparing the casing-to-soil potentials to the matching pipe-to-soil\npotentials…”. In accordance with the procedure, test leads to the casing or a vent pipe\nand test leads to the carrier pipe are required points for this comparison. Casings at the\nfollowing locations did not have one or more of the required testing points in 2016:\n Casings 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 on the 14” line and casing 1b on the 8” line.\n2\n\n\n\n3. §195.573 What must I do to monitor external corrosion control?\n(a) . . .\n(e) Corrective action. You must correct any identified deficiency in corrosion control\nas required by §195.401(b). However, if the deficiency involves a pipeline in an\nintegrity management program under §195.452, you must correct the deficiency as\nrequired by §195.452(h).\nKMLT failed to correct identified deficiencies in corrosion control as required by 49\nC.F.R. §195.401(b). Specifically, the company discovered cathodic protection (CP)\nconditions that could adversely affect the safe operation of its pipeline, but failed to\ncorrect them within a reasonable time.\nCP reads for Tank 80-4 met the -850mV criterion in 2014 but the reads were marginal.\nAs a precaution, an additional six anodes were scheduled to be installed in November of\n2015 but this never happened. The 2015, 2016 annual CP surveys for Tank 80-4 at the\nArgo Terminal revealed that CP on the tank did not meet the -850 mV criterion any\nlonger. Despite not meeting the established criterion, the six anodes remained uninstalled\nat the time of the PHMSA inspection in 2017. Documentation provided to PHMSA\nshowed the tank CP readings still did not meet the -850 mV criterion as of December 19,\n2017. That is three consecutive annual surveys with noncompliant CP reads for Tank 80-\n4. Therefore, KMLT failed to correct identified CP deficiencies within a reasonable time.\nWhile KMLT allows for the 100mV shift criterion, the native potentials for Tank 80-4\nwere not available and a depolarization survey had not been conducted as of the PHMSA\ninspection in 2017 and therefore the 100mV criterion could not be verified as legitimate.\nIn a separate instance of not correcting identified CP deficiencies in a timely manner, the\npipe-to-soil readings for both the “Tank 63-1 West Line” and the “Tank 63-1 East Line”\ndid not meet the -850 mV criterion during the 2016 and 2017 annual surveys.\nUnder 49 U.S.C. § 60122 and 49 CFR § 190.223, you are subject to a civil penalty not to exceed\n$222,504 per violation per day the violation persists, up to a maximum of $2,225,034 for a\nrelated series of violations. For violation occurring on or after July 31, 2019 and before January\n11, 2021, the maximum penalty may not exceed $218,647 per violation per day the violation\npersists, up to a maximum of $2,186,465 for a related series of violations. For violation\noccurring on or after November 27, 2018 and before July 31, 2019, the maximum penalty may\nnot exceed $213,268 per violation per day, with a maximum penalty not to exceed $2,132,679.\nFor violation occurring on or after November 2, 2015 and before November 27, 2018, the\nmaximum penalty may not exceed $209,002 per violation per day, with a maximum penalty not\nto exceed $2,090,022.\n3\n\n\n\nWe have reviewed the circumstances and supporting documents involved in this case, and have\ndecided not to conduct additional enforcement action or penalty assessment proceedings at this\ntime. We advise you to correct the items identified in this letter. Failure to do so will result in\nKinder Morgan Liquid Terminals, LLC being subject to additional enforcement action.\nNo reply to this letter is required. If you choose to reply, in your correspondence please refer to\nCPF 3-2021-5006W. Be advised that all material you submit in response to this enforcement\naction is subject to being made publicly available. If you believe that any portion of your\nresponsive material qualifies for confidential treatment under 5 U.S.C. 552(b), along with the\ncomplete original document you must provide a second copy of the document with the portions\nyou believe qualify for confidential treatment redacted and an explanation of why you believe\nthe redacted information qualifies for confidential treatment under 5 U.S.C. 552(b).\nSincerely,\nGregory A. Ochs\nDirector, Central Region, OPS\nPipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration\n4","truncated":false,"body_characters":8293}