{"operation":"document","citation":"CPF 420115012","title":"ENTERPRISE CRUDE PIPELINE LLC — Notice of Probable Violation","source_type":"enforcement","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"historical","official":true,"published_on":"2011-08-09","effective_on":null,"summary":"CLOSED notice of probable violation citing 195.52(a), 195.54(a).","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-420115012.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-420115012.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-420115012","source_url":"https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-data/case/420115012","body":"Notice of Probable Violation involving ENTERPRISE CRUDE PIPELINE LLC. PHMSA's enforcement data identifies the cited regulations as 195.52(a),  195.54(a). The case was opened on 2011-08-09 and is reported as closed as of 2012-01-05. Proposed civil penalty: $10,000. Assessed civil penalty: $10,000. Open the official case record for notices, responses, orders, and the latest status.\n\nOfficial case documents:\n\n420115012_ Final Order_12192011.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420115012/420115012_%20Final%20Order_12192011.pdf\n\n420115012_ Final Order_12192011_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420115012/420115012_%20Final%20Order_12192011_text.pdf\n\n420115012_NOPV PCP_08092011.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420115012/420115012_NOPV%20PCP_08092011.pdf\n\n420115012_NOPV PCP_08092011_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420115012/420115012_NOPV%20PCP_08092011_text.pdf\n\n420115012_Operator Response to Notice_09102011.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420115012/420115012_Operator%20Response%20to%20Notice_09102011.pdf\n\n420115012_ Final Order_12192011_text.pdf\n\nDEC 19 2011\nMr. Kevin C. Bodenhamer\nSr. Vice-President, Liquid Pipeline Operations\nEnterprise Products Partners, LP\n1100 Louisiana Street\nHouston, TX 77210-4735\nRe: CPF No. 4-2011-5012\nDear Mr. Bodenhamer:\nEnclosed please find the Final Order issued in the above-referenced case. It makes a finding of\nviolation and assesses a civil penalty of $10,000. The penalty payment terms are set forth in\nthe Final Order. This enforcement action closes automatically upon receipt of payment.\nService of the Final Order by certified mail is deemed effective upon the date of mailing, or as\notherwise provided 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, OPS\nMr. Alan Mayberry, Deputy Associate Administrator for Field Operations, OPS\nMs. Danika Yeager, Enterprise Products\nBrigham McCown, Esq., Langley Weinstein, counsel for Respondent\nCERTIFIED MAIL - RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED [__71791000164203015300\n__]\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)\nEnterprise Products Partners, LP, ) CPF No. 4-2011-5012\n)\nRespondent. )\n____________________________________)\nFINAL ORDER\nIn June 2011, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 60117, a representative of the Pipeline and Hazardous\nMaterials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS), conducted follow-\nup investigations of three hazardous liquid accidents on Enterprise Products Partners, LP’s\n(Respondent or Enterprise) pipeline systems. The accidents occurred in Texas City, Texas, on\nMay 16, 2010; in Chico, Texas, on November 6, 2010; and in Cushing, Oklahoma, on February\n21, 2011. In addition to its approximately 16,900 miles of natural gas pipelines, Enterprise owns\ninterests in approximately 4,700 miles of onshore crude oil pipelines and 11 MMBbls of above-\nground storage tank capacity. The company’s pipeline systems gather and transport crude oil\nprimarily to refineries, centralized storage terminals and connecting pipelines in Oklahoma, New\nMexico, and Texas, as well as crude oil terminal facilities in Cushing, Oklahoma, and Midland,\n1\nTexas.\nAs a result of the inspection, the Director, Southwest Region, OPS (Director), issued to\nRespondent, by letter dated August 9, 2011, a Notice of Probable Violation and Proposed Civil\nPenalty (Notice), which also included a warning pursuant to 49 C.F.R. § 190.205. In accordance\nwith 49 C.F.R. § 190.207, the Notice proposed finding that Enterprise had violated\n49 C.F.R. § 195.54(a) and proposed assessing a civil penalty of $10,000 for the alleged violation.\nThe warning item required no further action, but warned the operator to correct the probable\nviolation.\nEnterprise responded to the Notice by letter dated September 10, 2011 (Response). The\ncompany did not contest the allegation of violation but provided an explanation of its actions and\nrequested that the proposed civil penalty be reduced or eliminated. Respondent did not request a\nhearing and therefore has waived its right to one.\n1 http://www.enterpriseproducts.com (last accessed 11/10/ 2011).\n\n\n\n2\nFINDING OF VIOLATION\nIn its Response, Enterprise did not contest the allegation in the Notice that it violated\n49 C.F.R. Part 195, as follows:\nItem 2: The Notice alleged that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 195.54(a), which states:\n§ 195.54 Accident reports.\n(a) Each operator that experiences an accident that is required to be\nreported under § 195.50 shall as soon as practicable, but not later than 30\ndays after discovery of the accident, prepare and file an accident report on\nDOT Form 7000–1, or a facsimile.\n(b) Whenever an operator receives any changes in the information\nreported or additions to the original report on DOT Form 7000–1, it shall\nfile a supplemental report within 30 days.\nThe Notice alleged that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 195.54(a) by failing to file an accident\nreport within 30 days after discovery of a reportable accident. Specifically, the Notice alleged\nthat, on February 21, 2011, an accident occurred on Enterprise’s hazardous liquid pipeline in\nCushing, Oklahoma, but Respondent did not file an accident report on DOT Form 7000-1, until\nJune 27, 2011, four months later.\n2\nIn its Response, Enterprise did not contest this allegation of violation. Accordingly, based upon\na review of all of the evidence, I find that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 195.54(a) by failing\nto file an accident report on DOT Form 7000–1, as soon as practicable, but not later than 30 days\nafter discovery of an accident.\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. In determining the amount of a civil penalty under\n49 U.S.C. § 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 $10,000 for the violation cited above.\n2 Violation Report Exhibit A, Liquid Accident Report #20110206, at 1.\n\n\n\n3\nItem 2: The Notice proposed a civil penalty of $10,000 for Respondent’s violation of\n49 C.F.R. § 195.54, for failing to file an accident report, as soon as practicable, but not later than\n30 days after discovery of the company’s February 21, 2011 hazardous liquid accident. In its\nResponse, Enterprise requested that the proposed penalty be reduced or eliminated based on its\nself-disclosure and remedial actions performed prior to the issuance of the Notice.3 The\ncompany did not dispute that the report should have been filed, but contended that it had\nprepared the accident report in a timely manner but that an employee had failed to transmit the\nreport to PHMSA. The company also contended that it had taken remedial action to ensure\nbetter accountability of future workflow by revising training and procedures for its compliance\nspecialists. Respondent requested that the proposed civil penalty be reduced or eliminated,\narguing that the company’s “explanation is consistent with our policy of transparency with our\nregulator and is also consistent with the spirit and intent of the regulations, and the assessment\nconsiderations contained within 49 C.F.R. § 190.225.”4\nAs noted above, I found that the accident in Cushing, Oklahoma, occurred on February 21, 2011,\nbut Respondent did not file an accident report until June 27, 2011. The accident report was filed\nwith PHMSA four months after the accident, exceeding the maximum 30-day time limit.\nPHMSA has a defined process for collecting and analyzing such accident information. Pursuant\nto the instructions for DOT Form 7000-1, operators are required to submit accident reports to the\nInformation Resources Manager at PHMSA’s headquarters building in Washington, D.C.5\nI find that although Enterprise may have prepared the report electronically, the report was still\nnot submitted to PHMSA’s Information Resources Manager in a timely manner after discovery\nof the accident. The circumstances and the gravity of the violation are heightened because the\naccident resulted in the spill of 600 barrels of hazardous liquid and was reportable under\n49 C.F.R. §§ 195.54 and 195.50. Respondent’s culpability is high, in light of the company’s\nfailure to file the accident report until four months after the accident. Respondent’s compliance\nefforts after the discovery of the violation do not warrant a reduction in penalty. Based upon the\nforegoing, I assess Respondent a civil penalty of $10,000 for violation of 49 C.F.R. § 195.54.\nPayment of the civil penalty must be made within 20 days of service of this Final Order.\nPayment may be made by sending a certified check or money order (containing the CPF Number\nfor this case), made payable to “U.S. Department of Transportation,” to the Federal Aviation\nAdministration, Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center, Financial Operations Division (AMZ-\n341), P.O. Box 269039, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73125. Federal regulations\n(49 C.F.R. § 89.21(b)(3)) also permit 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\ntelephone number is (405) 954-8893.\n3 Response, at 1.\n4 Id.\n5 The new instructions, applicable to all accidents occurring after January 1, 2010, permit operators to file accident\nreports online, by mail, or by facsimile.\n\n\n\n4\nFailure to pay the $10,000 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.\nWARNING ITEM\nWith respect to Item 1, the Notice alleged a probable violation of Part 195 but did not propose a\ncivil penalty or compliance order for this item. Therefore, this is considered to be a warning\nitem. The warning is for:\n49 C.F.R. § 195.52(a) (Item 1) ─ Respondent’s alleged failure to give telephonic\nnotice, at the earliest practicable moment, following its discovery of the Texas\nCity, Texas tank farm accident that resulted in the release of 600 barrels of\nhazardous liquid.\nIf OPS finds a violation of this provision in a subsequent inspection, Respondent may be subject\nto future enforcement action.\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\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 49\nC.F.R. § 190.5.\n___________________________________ __________________________\nJeffrey D. Wiese Date Issued\nAssociate Administrator\nfor Pipeline Safety","truncated":false,"body_characters":12933}