{"operation":"document","citation":"CPF 420091001","title":"ENABLE GAS TRANSMISSION, LLC — Notice of Probable Violation","source_type":"enforcement","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"historical","official":true,"published_on":"2009-01-26","effective_on":null,"summary":"CLOSED notice of probable violation citing 191.15(b).","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-420091001.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-420091001.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-420091001","source_url":"https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-data/case/420091001","body":"Notice of Probable Violation involving ENABLE GAS TRANSMISSION, LLC. PHMSA's enforcement data identifies the cited regulation as 191.15(b). The case was opened on 2009-01-26 and is reported as closed as of 2009-11-06. Proposed civil penalty: $18,800. Assessed civil penalty: $18,800. Open the official case record for notices, responses, orders, and the latest status.\n\nOfficial case documents:\n\n420091001_FinalOrder_11062009.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420091001/420091001_FinalOrder_11062009.pdf\n\n420091001_FinalOrder_11062009_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420091001/420091001_FinalOrder_11062009_text.pdf\n\n420091001_NOPV PCP PCO_01262009.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420091001/420091001_NOPV%20PCP%20PCO_01262009.pdf\n\n420091001_NOPV PCP PCO_01262009_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420091001/420091001_NOPV%20PCP%20PCO_01262009_text.pdf\n\n420091001_FinalOrder_11062009_text.pdf\n\nNOV 6 2009\nMr. Walter Ferguson\nSenior Vice President of Operations and Engineering\nCenterPoint Energy Gas Transmission Company\n1111 Louisiana, Suite 1100\nHouston, TX 77002\nRe: CPF 4-2009-1001\nDear Mr. Ferguson:\nEnclosed is the Final Order issued in the above-referenced case. It makes a finding of violation\nand assesses a civil penalty. I acknowledge receipt of and accept your wire transfer for $18,800\nas payment in full of the civil penalty assessed in the Final Order. The Final Order also\nacknowledges your completion of the actions necessary to comply with the pipeline safety\nregulations. This case is now closed. Your receipt of the Final Order constitutes service of that\ndocument 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. R. M. Seeley, Director, Southwest Region, PHMSA\nCERTIFIED MAIL – RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED [7009 1410 0000 2464 5676]\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)\nCenterPoint Energy Gas ) CPF No. 4-2009-1001\nTransmission Company, )\n)\nRespondent. )\n____________________________________)\nFINAL ORDER\nDuring the months of January through December 2008, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 60117, a\nrepresentative of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Office\nof Pipeline Safety (OPS) reviewed incident reports filed by CenterPoint Energy Gas\nTransmission Company (CenterPoint or Respondent) related to certain pipeline incidents,\nincluding an incident that occurred on December 28, 2007, near Mountainburg, Arkansas. As a\nresult of that review, the Director, Southwest Region, OPS (Director), issued to Respondent, by\nletter dated January 26, 2009, a Notice of Probable Violation, Proposed Civil Penalty, and\nProposed Compliance Order (Notice). In accordance with 49 C.F.R. § 190.207, the Notice\nproposed finding that Respondent had violated 49 C.F.R. § 191.15 and proposed assessing a civil\npenalty of $18,800 for the alleged violation. The Notice also proposed ordering Respondent to\ntake certain measures to correct the alleged violation.\nCenterPoint operates over 6,000 miles of natural gas pipelines located primarily in Arkansas,\nOklahoma, and Louisiana. The company responded to the Notice on March 10, 2009, by\nsubmitting a wire transfer in the amount of the proposed civil penalty ($18,800), waiving further\nright to respond and authorizing the entry of this Final Order.\nFINDING OF VIOLATION\nItem 1 in the Notice alleged that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 191.15, which states:\n§ 191.15 Transmission and gathering systems: Incident report.\n(a) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, each operator\nof a transmission or a gathering pipeline system shall submit Department\nof Transportation Form RSPA F 7100.2 as soon as practicable but not\nmore than 30 days after detection of an incident required to be reported\nunder §191.5.\n\n\n\n2\n(b) Where additional related information is obtained after a report is\nsubmitted under paragraph (a) of this section, the operator shall make a\nsupplemental report as soon as practicable with a clear reference by date\nand subject to the original report.\n(c) The incident report required by paragraph (a) of this section need\nnot be submitted with respect to LNG facilities.\nThe Notice alleged that Respondent violated § 191.15(b) by failing to make a supplemental\nreport as soon as practicable after obtaining additional information related to a pipeline incident\nfor which it had filed an incident report. Specifically, the Notice alleged that CenterPoint filed\nan incident report for the Mountainburg incident on January 28, 2008, listing the apparent cause\nof the failure as “Unknown” pending the results of a metallurgical analysis. PHMSA received a\ncopy of the final metallurgical analysis in April 2008, and the Agency made several requests in\nMay, June, and October 2008 that CenterPoint file a supplemental report. PHMSA also notified\nthe company that it needed to update and finalize four other incident reports dating back to 2004.\nAs of December 2008, Respondent had not submitted supplemental reports for these incidents.\nAccordingly, I find Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 191.15(b), by failing to make a\nsupplemental report as soon as practicable after obtaining additional information related to a\npipeline incident for which it had filed an incident report.\nThis finding of violation will be considered a prior offense in any subsequent enforcement action\ntaken against Respondent.\nASSESSMENT OF PENALTY\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.\n49 U.S.C. § 60122 and 49 C.F.R. § 190.225 require that, in determining the amount of the civil\npenalty, I consider the following criteria: the nature, circumstances, and gravity of the violation,\nincluding adverse impact on the environment; the degree of Respondent’s culpability; the history\nof Respondent’s prior offenses; the Respondent’s ability to pay the penalty and any effect that\nthe penalty may have on its ability to continue doing business; and the good faith of Respondent\nin attempting to comply with the pipeline safety regulations. In addition, I may consider the\neconomic benefit gained from the violation without any reduction because of subsequent\ndamages, and such other matters as justice may require.\nHaving reviewed the record and considered the assessment criteria, I assess Respondent a civil\npenalty of $18,800, already paid by Respondent.\n\n\n\n3\nCOMPLIANCE ORDER\nThe Notice proposed a Compliance Order with respect to the violation of 49 C.F.R. § 191.15.\nUnder 49 U.S.C. § 60118(a), each person who engages in the transportation of gas or who owns\nor operates a gas pipeline facility is required to comply with the applicable safety standards\nestablished under chapter 601.\nThe Director has indicated that Respondent satisfactorily completed the actions specified in the\nProposed Compliance Order by filing supplemental reports for the five incidents dating back to\n2004, including the pipeline incident on December 28, 2007, near Mountainburg, Arkansas.\nAccordingly, since compliance has been achieved with respect to this violation, there is no need\nto include compliance terms in this Order.\nThe terms and conditions of this Final Order shall be effective upon receipt.\n______________________________ ___________________\nJeffrey D. Wiese Date Issued\nAssociate Administrator\nfor Pipeline Safety\n\n420091001_NOPV PCP PCO_01262009_text.pdf\n\nNOTICE OF PROBABLE VIOLATION\nPROPOSED CIVIL PENALTY\nand\nPROPOSED COMPLIANCE ORDER\nCERTIFIED MAIL - RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED\nJanuary 26, 2009\nMr. Walter Ferguson\nSenior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer\nCenterpoint Energy Gas Transmission\n1111 Louisiana, Suite 1100\nHouston, TX 77002\nCPF 4-2009-1001\nDear Mr. Ferguson:\nA representative of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)\npursuant to Chapter 601 of 49 United States Code has reviewed the Centerpoint Energy Gas\nTransmission (Centerpoint) 7100.2 report for the Mountainburg, AR incident originally filed on\nJanuary 28, 2008.\nAs a result of the review, it appears that you have committed a probable violation of the Pipeline\nSafety Regulations, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations. The items reviewed and the probable\nviolation are:\n1. 191.15 Transmission and gathering systems: Incident report.\n(a) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, each operator of a\ntransmission or a gathering pipeline system shall submit Department of\nTransportation Form RSPA F 7100.2 as soon as practicable but not more than 30\ndays after detection of an incident required to be reported under §191.5.\n\n\n\n(b) Where additional related information is obtained after a report is submitted\nunder paragraph (a) of this section, the operator shall make a supplemental report\nas soon as practicable with a clear reference by date and subject to the original\nreport.\nCenterpoint failed to make a supplemental report for the Mountainburg, AR incident as soon as\npracticable after the final metallurgical report was obtained that provided information on the\nprobable cause of failure.\nCenterpoint filed the original report for the Mountainburg, AR incident on January 28, 2008, and\nwas assigned a report number of 20080008. The cause of the failure on the incident report was\nstated to be unknown pending the results of a metallurgical analysis. PHMSA requested and\nreceived a copy of the final metallurgical report for the failed pipe segment on April 15, 2008.\nOn May 8, 2008 PHMSA requested Centerpoint update the RSPA 7100.2 Mountainburg, AR\nincident report to include the additional information contained in the final metallurgical analysis\nas required by §191.15. PHMSA placed a telephone call to Centerpoint on June 25, 2008, and\nleft a message again requesting Centerpoint update the Mountainburg, AR incident report.\nPHMSA then issued a letter requesting Centerpoint update and finalize five incident reports\ndating back to 2004, including the Mountainburg, AR incident report number 20080008. The\nother incident reports included in this letter were report numbers 20040051, 20050080,\n20050108, and 20080035. PHMSA then held a teleconference on October 14, 2008 with\nrepresentatives of Centerpoint to discuss several recent incidents that had occurred in Arkansas\nand Texas. The Mountainburg, AR incident report was discussed in this meeting and PHMSA\nagain requested the incident report be updated with the cause of failure. As of December 2,\n2008, a supplemental report updating the cause of failure had still not been filed by Centerpoint\ndespite the final metallurgical analysis being received by Centerpoint on April 15, 2008 and\nmultiple requests by PHMSA for the operator to comply with the requirements of 49 CFR\n191.15.\nProposed Civil Penalty\nUnder 49 United States Code, § 60122, you are subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $100,000\nfor each violation for each day the violation persists up to a maximum of $1,000,000 for any\nrelated series of violations. The Compliance Officer has reviewed the circumstances and\nsupporting documentation involved in the above probable violation(s) and has recommended that\nyou be preliminarily assessed a civil penalty of $18,800 as follows:\nItem number PENALTY\n1 $ 18,800\n2\n\n\n\nProposed Compliance Order\nWith respect to item number 1 pursuant to 49 United States Code § 60118, the Pipeline and\nHazardous Materials Safety Administration proposes to issue a Compliance Order to Centerpoint\nEnergy Gas Transmission. Please refer to the Proposed Compliance Order, which is enclosed\nand made a part of this Notice.\nResponse to this Notice\nEnclosed as part of this Notice is a document entitled Response Options for Pipeline Operators\nin Compliance Proceedings. Please refer to this document and note the response options. Be\nadvised that all material you submit in response to this enforcement action is subject to being\nmade publicly available. If you believe that any portion of your responsive material qualifies for\nconfidential treatment under 5 U.S.C. 552(b), along with the complete original document you\nmust provide a second copy of the document with the portions you believe qualify for\nconfidential treatment redacted and an explanation of why you believe the redacted information\nqualifies for confidential treatment under 5 U.S.C. 552(b). If you do not respond within 30 days\nof receipt of this Notice, this constitutes a waiver of your right to contest the allegations in this\nNotice and authorizes the Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety to find facts as alleged in\nthis Notice without further notice to you and to issue a Final Order.\nIn your correspondence on this matter, please refer to CPF 4-2009-1001 and for each document\nyou submit, please provide a copy in electronic format whenever possible.\nSincerely,\nR. M. Seeley\nDirector, Southwest Region\nPipeline and Hazardous\nMaterials Safety Administration\nEnclosures: Proposed Compliance Order\nResponse Options for Pipeline Operators in Compliance Proceedings\n3\n\n\n\nPROPOSED COMPLIANCE ORDER\nPursuant to 49 United States Code § 60118, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety\nAdministration (PHMSA) proposes to issue to Centerpoint Energy Gas Transmission a\nCompliance Order incorporating the following remedial requirements to ensure the compliance\nof Centerpoint Energy Gas Transmission with the pipeline safety regulations:\n1. In regard to Item Number 1 of the Notice pertaining to failure to comply with the\nrequirements of §191.15, Centerpoint must immediately file a supplemental\nRSPA 7100.2 report for number 20080008 specifying the cause of failure of the\nMountainburg, AR incident and updating any other information obtained since the\nincident. If all of the information about the incident is known, this information\nmust be included and the incident report filed as a final report. Centerpoint must\nalso file supplemental reports for report numbers 20040051, 20050080,\n20050108, and 20080035 where additional information has been acquired since\nthe original report was made. If all of the information about these incidents is\nknown, these reports must also be filed as final reports.\n2. Centerpoint shall maintain documentation of the safety improvement costs\nassociated with fulfilling this Compliance Order and submit the total to R.M.\nSeeley, Director, Southwest Region, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety\nAdministration. Costs shall be reported in two categories: 1) total cost associated\nwith preparation/revision of plans, procedures, studies and analyses, and 2) total\ncost associated with replacements, additions and other changes to pipeline\ninfrastructure.\n4","truncated":false,"body_characters":14971}