{"operation":"document","citation":"CPF 520115013W","title":"BELLE FOURCHE PIPELINE CO — Warning Letter","source_type":"enforcement","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"historical","official":true,"published_on":"2011-04-05","effective_on":null,"summary":"CLOSED warning letter citing 195.452(f)(5), 195.452(f)(7), 195.452(i)(4).","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-520115013w.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-520115013w.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-520115013w","source_url":"https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-data/case/520115013W","body":"Warning Letter involving BELLE FOURCHE PIPELINE CO. PHMSA's enforcement data identifies the cited regulations as 195.452(f)(5),  195.452(f)(7),  195.452(i)(4). The case was opened on 2011-04-05 and is reported as closed as of 2011-04-05. Open the official case record for notices, responses, orders, and the latest status.\n\nOfficial case documents:\n\n520115013W_warning letter_04052011.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/520115013W/520115013W_warning%20letter_04052011.pdf\n\n520115013W_warning letter_04052011_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/520115013W/520115013W_warning%20letter_04052011_text.pdf\n\n520115013W_warning letter_04052011_text.pdf\n\nWARNING LETTER\nCERTIFIED MAIL - RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED\nApril 5, 2011\nMr. Hank True\nPresident\nBelle Fourche Pipeline\nP.O. Drawer 2360\nCasper, WY 82602\nCPF 5-2011-5013W\nDear Mr. True:\nOn September 15-17, 2009 and January 10, 2011, representatives of the Pipeline and Hazardous\nMaterials Safety Administration (PHMSA), pursuant to Chapter 601 of 49 United States Code,\ninspected your integrity management program (IMP) in Casper, Wyoming. The IMP plan\nreviewed covered the Belle Fourche, Butte and Poplar pipeline systems. The January 2011 visit\nwas conducted to confirm the status of issues identified in our 2009 IMP reviews.\nAs a result of the inspections, it appears that you have committed probable violations of the\nPipeline Safety Regulations, Title 49, and Code of Federal Regulations. The items inspected and\nthe probable violations are:\n1. §195.452 Pipeline integrity management in high consequence areas.\n(i) What preventive and mitigative measures must an operator take to protect the\nhigh consequence area?\n(4) Emergency Flow Restricting Devices (EFRD). If an operator determines that an\nEFRD is needed on a pipeline segment to protect a high consequence area in the\nevent of a hazardous liquid pipeline release, an operator must install the EFRD. In\nmaking this determination, an operator must, at least, consider the following\nfactors–the swiftness of leak detection and pipeline shutdown capabilities, the type\n\n\n\nof commodity carried, the rate of potential leakage, the volume that can be released,\ntopography or pipeline profile, the potential for ignition, proximity to power\nsources, location of nearest response personnel, specific terrain between the pipeline\nsegment and the high consequence area, and benefits expected by reducing the spill\nsize.\nDuring the review of BFPL IM program, BFPL did not produce any documentation that\nindicated an evaluation was conducted regarding the need for Emergency Flow Restricting\nDevices (EFRD’s). We understand that as of January 10, 2011, the EFRD study is in progress.\n2. §195.452 Pipeline integrity management in high consequence areas.\n(f) What are the elements of an integrity management program? An integrity\nmanagement program begins with the initial framework. An operator must\ncontinually change the program to reflect operating experience, conclusions drawn\nfrom results of the integrity assessments, and other maintenance and surveillance\ndata, and evaluation of consequences of a failure on the high consequence area. An\noperator must include, at minimum, each of the following elements in its written\nintegrity management program:\n(5) A continual process of assessment and evaluation to maintain a pipeline's\nintegrity (see paragraph (j) of this section).\nDuring the review of your integrity assessments, it appears that BFPL did not adhere to the\nrequired five (5) year assessment intervals. Furthermore, BFPL did not comply with the\nnotification requirements when BFPL extended their inspection interval beyond five (5) years.\nThe following reassessments were late and no notification to PHMSA was provided: 1) A\nbaseline assessment of the Poplar segment between Ekalala to Alzada was completed in\nSeptember of 2003 and the reassessment was not completed as of the 2009 inspection. 2) A\nbaseline assessment of the Poplar segment between Hulett and Osage was completed in\nSeptember of 2003 and the reassessment was not completed as of the 2009 inspection. 3) A\nbaseline assessment of the Butte Segment between Hat Creek and Guernsey was scheduled for\nFebruary of 2008 and was not completed until January 7, 2009. All of these reassessments have\nbeen completed as of January 2011.\n3. §195.452 Pipeline integrity management in high consequence areas.\n(f) What are the elements of an integrity management program? An integrity\nmanagement program begins with the initial framework. An operator must\ncontinually change the program to reflect operating experience, conclusions drawn\nfrom results of the integrity assessments, and other maintenance and surveillance\ndata, and evaluation of consequences of a failure on the high consequence area. An\noperator must include, at minimum, each of the following elements in its written\nintegrity management program:\n(7) Methods to measure the program's effectiveness (see paragraph (k) of this\nsection).\n2\n\n\n\nDuring the September, 2009, of the BFPL IM program it appeared that BFPL did not complete\ntheir evaluation to measure the program’s effectiveness. No documentation was available for\nreview during that IMP inspection. As of January 10, 2011, BFPL had all documentation except\ndocumenting when cleaning pigs are being run and the EFRD study documentation.\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. We have reviewed the circumstances and supporting documents\ninvolved in this case, and have decided not to conduct additional enforcement action or penalty\nassessment proceedings at this time. We advise you to correct the items identified in this letter.\nFailure to do so will result in Belle Fourche Pipeline being subject to additional enforcement\naction.\nNo reply to this letter is required. If you choose to reply, in your correspondence please refer to\nCPF 5-2011-5013W. 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,\nChris Hoidal\nDirector, Western Region\nPipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration\ncc: PHP-60 Compliance Registry\nPHP-500 T. Finch (#124314)\n3","truncated":false,"body_characters":6756}