{"operation":"document","citation":"CPF 42023054NOA","title":"NAVIGATOR BORGER EXPRESS LLC — Notice of Amendment","source_type":"enforcement","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"historical","official":true,"published_on":"2023-06-13","effective_on":null,"summary":"CLOSED notice of amendment citing 195.402(c)(3), 195.561(a).","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-42023054noa.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-42023054noa.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-42023054noa","source_url":"https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-data/case/42023054NOA","body":"Notice of Amendment involving NAVIGATOR BORGER EXPRESS LLC. PHMSA's enforcement data identifies the cited regulations as 195.402(c)(3),  195.561(a). The case was opened on 2023-06-13 and is reported as closed as of 2023-11-21. Open the official case record for notices, responses, orders, and the latest status.\n\nOfficial case documents:\n\n42023054NOA_Closure Letter_11212023_(21-227138).pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/42023054NOA/42023054NOA_Closure%20Letter_11212023_(21-227138).pdf\n\n42023054NOA_Closure Letter_11212023_(21-227138)_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/42023054NOA/42023054NOA_Closure%20Letter_11212023_(21-227138)_text.pdf\n\n42023054NOA_Notice of Amendment_06132023_(21-227138).pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/42023054NOA/42023054NOA_Notice%20of%20Amendment_06132023_(21-227138).pdf\n\n42023054NOA_Notice of Amendment_06132023_(21-227138)_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/42023054NOA/42023054NOA_Notice%20of%20Amendment_06132023_(21-227138)_text.pdf\n\n42023054NOA_Operator Response to Notice_07122023_(21-227138).pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/42023054NOA/42023054NOA_Operator%20Response%20to%20Notice_07122023_(21-227138).pdf\n\n42023054NOA_Closure Letter_11212023_(21-227138)_text.pdf\n\nVIA ELECTRONIC MAIL TO: vrosa@nesmidstream.com\nNovember 21, 2023\nVidal Rosa\nSenior Vice President of Operations\nNavigator Borger Express LLC\n2626 Cole Avenue, Suite 900,\nDallas, Texas 75204\nCPF 4-2023-054-NOA\nDear Mr. Rosa:\nOn June 13, 2023, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued\nto Navigator Borger Express LLC Notice of Amendment (Notice) in the above-reference case.\nNavigator submitted its amended and supplementary procedures on July 12, August 16, and\nSeptember 26, 2023 respectively. Navigator submitted its final revision of the amended procedure\non November 8, 2023. PHMSA staff reviewed these procedures and it appears that the inadequacy\noutlined in this Notice have been corrected.\nAccordingly, this case is now closed, and no further action is contemplated with respect to the\nmatters involved in this case. Thank you for your cooperation.\nSincerely,\nBryan Lethcoe\nDirector, Southwest Region, Office of Pipeline Safety\nPipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration\ncc: Ms. Vanessa Romero, Manager EHS/Regulatory, vromero@nesmidstream.com\n\n42023054NOA_Notice of Amendment_06132023_(21-227138)_text.pdf\n\nNOTICE OF AMENDMENT\nVIA ELECTRONIC MAIL\nJune 13, 2023\nVidal Rosa\nSenior Vice President of Operations\nNavigator Borger Express LLC\n2626 Cole Avenue, Suite 900\nDallas, Texas 75204\nCPF 4-2023-054-NOA\nDear Mr. Rosa:\nFrom January 24 to May 20, 2022, a representative of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety\nAdministration (PHMSA) pursuant to Chapter 601 of 49 United States Code (U.S.C.) was onsite\nand inspected Navigator Borger Express LLC’s (Navigator) pipeline construction project in\nOklahoma and Texas.\nAs a result of the inspection, PHMSA has identified an apparent inadequacy found within\nNavigator’s plans or procedures. The item inspected and the inadequacy is described below:\n1. § 195.402 Procedural manual for operations, maintenance, and emergencies.\n(a) . . . .\n(c) Maintenance and normal operations. The manual required by\nparagraph (a) of this section must include procedures for the following\nto provide safety during maintenance and normal operations:\n(1) . . . .\n(3) Operating, maintaining, and repairing the pipeline system in\naccordance with each of the requirements of this subpart and subpart\nH of this part.\n§ 195.561 When must I inspect pipe coating used for external corrosion control?\n(a) You must inspect all external pipe coating required by § 195.557\njust prior to lowering the pipe into the ditch or submerging the pipe.\n\n\n\nNavigator’s written procedures for conducting operations, maintenance, and emergency\npreparedness and response activities were inadequate to ensure safe operation of a pipeline facility\nin accordance with § 195.402(c)(3). Specifically, Navigator’s construction standard failed to\nensure holiday detectors are set to the correct voltage to inspect field coated girth weld joints in\naccordance with § 195.561(a).\nNavigator’s NES Construction Standards Pipeline Construction (Doc No: NES-CONST-1001,\nRevision No: A, dated 6/7/2021), section 14.2: Field Coating Inspection Repair required weld\njoints to be inspected with a holiday detector (Jeep) set at 125 volts/mil of the minimum specified\ncoating thickness for the carrier pipe or per the coating manufacturer instructions.\nThe coating manufacturer instructions, Denso Protal™ 7200 Brush Application Specifications,\nsection 6.5 required the holiday detection voltage setting to be based on the specified nominal pipe\ncoating thickness and calculated in accordance with the NACE SP0188 Standard.\nOn March 9, 2022, during the pipeline construction inspection near the Canadian Pump Station,\nPHMSA observed a field coating thickness circumferentially 36, 25, 25, and 24 mils at the weld\nnumber 4ATI1133(Joint number ML4-5017). Navigator used 2100 volts based on the carrier pipe\ncoating thickness on the SPY holiday detector. However, NACE SP0188 (the manufacturer\nrecommended industry standard) requires a higher voltage (3000 volts) for coating thickness in the\nrange of 21 to 40 mils.1 Per NACE SP0188, the voltage setting must be calculated by considering\nthe coating thickness and the applied voltage varies for different coating thicknesses.\nTherefore, Navigator’s written procedures for conducting operations, maintenance, and emergency\npreparedness and response activities were inadequate to ensure safe operation of a pipeline facility\nin accordance with § 195.402(c)(3). Navigator must amend section 14.2 of NES Construction\nStandards Pipeline Construction (Doc No: NES-CONST-1001) to ensure that its holiday detector\nvoltages are set based on the coating thickness applied on field coated joints.\nResponse to this Notice\nThis Notice is provided pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 60108(a) and 49 C.F.R. § 190.206. Enclosed as\npart of this Notice is a document entitled Response Options for Pipeline Operators in Compliance\nProceedings.\nPlease refer to this document and note the response options. Be advised that all material you\nsubmit in response to this enforcement action is subject to being made publicly available. If you\nbelieve that any portion of your responsive material qualifies for confidential treatment under 5\nU.S.C. § 552(b), along with the complete original document you must provide a second copy of\nthe document with the portions you believe qualify for confidential treatment redacted and an\nexplanation of why you believe the redacted information qualifies for confidential treatment under\n5 U.S.C. § 552(b).\n1 See NACE SP0188-2006 at 3 tbl. 1 (Dec. 27, 2006).\n\n\n\nFollowing the receipt of this Notice, you have 30 days to submit written comments, revised\nprocedures, or a request for a hearing under § 190.211. If you do not respond within 30 days of\nreceipt of this Notice, this constitutes a waiver of your right to contest the allegations in this Notice\nand authorizes the Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety to find facts as alleged in this Notice\nwithout further notice to you and to issue an Order Directing Amendment. If your plans or\nprocedures are found inadequate as alleged in this Notice, you may be ordered to amend your plans\nor procedures to correct the inadequacies (49 C.F.R. § 190.206). If you are not contesting this\nNotice, we propose that you submit your amended procedures to my office within 30 days of\nreceipt of this Notice. This period may be extended by written request for good cause. Once the\ninadequacies identified herein have been addressed in your amended procedures, this enforcement\naction will be closed.\nIt is requested (not mandated) that Navigator Borger Express LLC maintain documentation of the\nsafety improvement costs associated with fulfilling this Notice of Amendment\n(preparation/revision of plans, procedures) and submit the total to Bryan Lethcoe, Director,\nSouthwest Region, Office of Pipeline Safety, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety\nAdministration. In correspondence concerning this matter, please refer to CPF 4-2023-054-NOA\nand, for each document you submit, please provide a copy in electronic format whenever possible.\nSincerely,\nBryan Lethcoe\nDirector, Southwest Region, Office of Pipeline Safety\nPipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration\nEnclosure: Response Options for Pipeline Operators in Enforcement Proceedings\ncc: Vanessa Romero, Manager, EHS/Regulatory, vromero@nesmidstream.com","truncated":false,"body_characters":8684}