{"operation":"document","citation":"CPF 520176003","title":"SUMMIT MIDSTREAM PARTNERS, LLC — Notice of Probable Violation","source_type":"enforcement","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"historical","official":true,"published_on":"2017-02-13","effective_on":null,"summary":"CLOSED notice of probable violation citing 195.266(a), 195.403(c), 195.404(b)(1), 195.404(b)(2).","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-520176003.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-520176003.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-enforcement-520176003","source_url":"https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-data/case/520176003","body":"Notice of Probable Violation involving SUMMIT MIDSTREAM PARTNERS, LLC. PHMSA's enforcement data identifies the cited regulations as 195.266(a),  195.403(c),  195.404(b)(1),  195.404(b)(2). The case was opened on 2017-02-13 and is reported as closed as of 2017-08-24. Open the official case record for notices, responses, orders, and the latest status.\n\nOfficial case documents:\n\n520176003_Final Order_08242017.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/520176003/520176003_Final%20Order_08242017.pdf\n\n520176003_Final Order_08242017_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/520176003/520176003_Final%20Order_08242017_text.pdf\n\n520176003_NOPV PCO_02132017.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/520176003/520176003_NOPV%20PCO_02132017.pdf\n\n520176003_NOPV PCO_02132017_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/520176003/520176003_NOPV%20PCO_02132017_text.pdf\n\n520176003_Operator Response to Notice_04102017.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/520176003/520176003_Operator%20Response%20to%20Notice_04102017.pdf\n\n520176003_Final Order_08242017_text.pdf\n\nAugust 24, 2017\nMr. Steve Newby\nPresident and CEO\nSummit Midstream Partners, LLC\n1790 Hughes Landing Blvd., Suite 500\nThe Woodlands, Texas 77380\nRe: CPF No. 5-2017-6003\nDear Mr. Newby:\nEnclosed please find the Final Order issued in the above-referenced case. It makes findings of\nviolation and finds that Summit Midstream Partners, LLC, has completed the actions specified in\nthe Notice to comply with the pipeline safety regulations. Therefore, this case is now closed.\nService of the Final Order by certified mail is effective upon the date of mailing as provided\nunder 49 C.F.R. § 190.5.\nThank you for your cooperation in this matter.\nSincerely,\nAlan K. Mayberry\nAssociate Administrator\nfor Pipeline Safety\nEnclosure\ncc: Director, Western Region, Office of Pipeline Safety, PHMSA\nMr. Alfred Garcia Jr., Summit Midstream Partners, LLC, Pipeline Compliance Manager,\n1790 Hughes Landing Blvd., Suite 500, The Woodlands, Texas 77380\nCERTIFIED MAIL - RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED\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)\nSummit Midstream Partners, LLC, ) CPF No. 5-2017-6003\n)\nRespondent. )\n____________________________________)\nFINAL ORDER\nOn April 26-27, 2016, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 60117, a representative of the Pipeline and\nHazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS),\nconducted an on-site pipeline safety inspection of the facilities and records of Summit Midstream\nPartners, LLC’s (Summit or Respondent) Hereford highly volatile liquid (HVL) facility in\nGrover, Colorado. Summit primarily operates natural gas and crude-oil gathering systems in\nWest Virginia, Ohio, North Dakota, Texas, and Colorado.1 Summit’s Hereford HVL facility\nconsists of one 4-inch HVL pipeline that transports natural gas liquid from the\nHereford/Meadowlark gas plant to a connection with Overland Pass Pipeline. The HVL pipeline\nis approximately 10.8 miles in length.\nAs a result of the inspection, the Director, Western Region, OPS (Director), issued to\nRespondent, by letter dated February 13, 2017, a Notice of Probable Violation and Proposed\nCompliance Order (Notice), which also included warnings pursuant to 49 C.F.R. § 190.205. In\naccordance with 49 C.F.R. § 190.207, the Notice proposed finding that Summit had violated\n49 C.F.R. §§ 195.404(b)(1) and 195.404(b)(2) and proposed ordering Respondent to take certain\nmeasures to correct the alleged violations. The warning items required no further action, but\nwarned the operator to correct the probable violations or face possible enforcement action.\nSummit responded to the Notice by letter dated April 10, 2017 (Response). The company did\nnot contest the allegations of violation but provided information concerning the corrective\nactions it had taken. Respondent did not request a hearing and therefore has waived its right to\none.\nFINDINGS OF VIOLATION\nIn its Response, Summit did not contest the allegations in the Notice that it violated 49 C.F.R.\nPart 195, as follows:\n1 Summit Midstream, website, available at http://www.summitmidstream.com/about (last accessed August 1, 2017).\n\n\n\nCPF No. 5-2017-6003\nPage 2\nItem 3: The Notice alleged that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 195.404(b)(1), which states:\n§ 195.404 Maps and records.\n(a) …\n(b) Each operator shall maintain for at least 3 years daily operating\nrecords that indicate –\n(1) The discharge pressure at each pump station; …\nThe Notice alleged that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 195.404(b)(1) by failing to maintain\ndaily operating records indicating the discharge pressure at each pump station for at least three\nyears. Specifically, the Notice alleged that Summit’s control center’s data management system\nhad the capability of retaining discharge pressure at each pump station for only 12-13 months,\ninstead of the three years required by § 195.404(b)(1). According to the Notice, Summit\nacknowledged that it did not have daily operating records indicating discharge pressure at each\npump station for three years. In addition, Summit was only able to provide discharge records\nstarting on August 21, 2015.\nIn its Response, Summit did not contest this allegation of violation. Accordingly, based upon a\nreview of all the evidence, I find that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 195.404(b)(1) by failing\nto maintain daily operating records indicating the discharge pressure at each pump station for at\nleast three years.\nItem 4: The Notice alleged that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 195.404(b)(2), which states:\n§ 195.404 Maps and records.\n(a) …\n(b) Each operator shall maintain for at least 3 years daily operating\nrecords that indicate –\n(1) …\n(2) Any emergency or abnormal operation to which the procedures\nunder § 195.402 apply.\nThe Notice alleged that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 195.404(b)(2) by failing to retain daily\noperating records for at least three years indicating any emergency or abnormal operations to\nwhich the procedures under § 195.402 apply. Specifically, the Notice alleged that Summit’s\ncontrol center only had the capability of retaining records for 12-13 months.2\nIn its Response, Summit did not contest this allegation of violation. Accordingly, based upon a\nreview of all the evidence, I find that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 195.404(b)(2) by failing\nto retain daily operating records for at least three years indicating any emergency or abnormal\noperations to which the procedures under § 195.402 apply.\n2 Item 4 noted that Summit’s control center did not retain discharge pressure at each pump station for three years.\nThis evidence was used to support a finding of violation for Item 3 and was presumably referenced in Item 4 in\nerror. Nevertheless, the fact that Respondent’s control center had the capability to retain records for only 12-13\nmonths is sufficient evidence to find a separate violation of § 195.404(b)(2).\n\n\n\nCPF No. 5-2017-6003\nPage 3\nThese findings of violation will be considered prior offenses in any subsequent enforcement\naction taken against Respondent.\nCOMPLIANCE ORDER\nThe Notice proposed a compliance order with respect to Items 3 and 4 in the Notice for\nviolations of 49 C.F.R. §§ 195.404(b)(1) and 195.404(b)(2), respectively. Under 49 U.S.C.\n§ 60118(a), each person who engages in the transportation of hazardous liquids or who owns or\noperates a pipeline facility is required to comply with the applicable safety standards established\nunder chapter 601. The Director indicates that Respondent has taken the following actions\nspecified in the proposed compliance order:\n1. With respect to the violation of § 195.404(b)(1) (Item 3), Respondent has installed\na new Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system with more robust\nstorage and reporting features that will store all daily discharge pressure data for a\nminimum of three years.\n2. With respect to the violation of § 195.404(b)(2) (Item 4), Respondent has installed\na new SCADA system that can extract and retain emergency and abnormal operations\nrecords for three years.\nAccordingly, I find that compliance has been achieved with respect to these violations.\nTherefore, the compliance terms proposed in the Notice are not included in this Order.\nWARNING ITEMS\nWith respect to Items 1 and 2, the Notice alleged probable violations of Part 195 but did not\npropose a civil penalty or compliance order for these items. Therefore, these are considered to\nbe warning items. The warning(s) were for:\n49 C.F.R. § 195.266(a) (Item 1) ─ Respondent’s alleged failure to maintain a\ncomplete record showing the total number of girth welds and the number\nnondestructively tested, including the number rejected and the disposition of each\nrejected weld, for the life of the pipeline facility. OPS alleged that Summit was\nunable to provide welding records to demonstrate that nondestructive testing was\nperformed on at least 10 percent of the girth welds made by each welder and\nwelding operator during each welding day of construction, as required by\n§ 195.234(d). The welding data Summit provided allegedly showed a list of\nwelders and percentage of welds X-rayed, but failed to include the dates each\nwelder welded or the daily non-destructive testing percentages.\n49 C.F.R. § 195.403(c) (Item 2) ─ Respondent’s alleged failure to verify that its\nsupervisors maintained a thorough knowledge of the portion of the emergency\nresponse procedures under § 195.402 for which they are responsible for ensuring\ncompliance. Pursuant to § 195.403(a) and (b), operators are required to establish\n\n\n\nCPF No. 5-2017-6003\nPage 4\nand conduct a continuing training program to instruct emergency response\npersonnel on emergency response procedures required under § 195.402 at\nintervals not to exceed 15 months, but at least once each calendar year. OPS\nalleged that Summit was unable to provide records demonstrating that a\nsupervisor was trained in emergency response procedures for the 2014 calendar\nyear.\nIf OPS finds a violation of any of these items in a subsequent inspection, Respondent may be\nsubject to future enforcement action.\nThe terms and conditions of this Final Order are effective upon service in accordance with\n49 C.F.R. § 190.5.\nAugust 24, 2017\n___________________________________ __________________________\nAlan K. Mayberry Date Issued\nAssociate Administrator\nfor Pipeline Safety","truncated":false,"body_characters":10548}