# PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2015-02-28

- **operation:** document
- **citation:** PHMSA Report 20150041
- **title:** PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2015-02-28
- **source type:** incident
- **agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
- **status:** historical
- **official:** true
- **published on:** 2015-03-30
- **effective on:** 2015-02-28
- **summary:** Gas transmission and gathering incident in CARMEL, MONTEREY County, CA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 3784 NATURAL GAS released, $450,000 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings. PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.
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**body:**

Gas transmission and gathering incident in CARMEL, MONTEREY County, CA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 3784 NATURAL GAS released, $450,000 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings.

Report number: 20150041.

Operator ID: 15007.

Reported incident date: 2/28/2015 0:00.

Location detail: DFM 1815-15

Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY

Cause detail: NOTIFICATION ISSUE

Cause detail: NO NOTIFICATION MADE TO THE ONE-CALL CENTER/811

Cause detail: ON FEBRUARY 28, 2015 AT 1133 HOURS PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC'S (PG&E) GAS CONTROL ROOM RECEIVED A LOW PRESSURE ALARM ON DISTRIBUTION FEEDER MAIN (DFM) 1815-15 (A TRANSMISSION PIPELINE) AND IMMEDIATELY CONTACTED THE LOCAL SUPERVISOR TO VERIFY THE LOW PRESSURE READINGS IN THE FIELD. WHILE LOCAL FIELD PERSONNEL WAS EN ROUTE, AT 1145 HOURS, PG&E DISPATCH RECEIVED A REPORT OF THIRD PARTY DAMAGE TO PG&E'S PIPELINE NEAR 610 VIEJO RD IN CARMEL THAT RESULTED IN AN UNINTENTIONAL RELEASE OF GAS. A HOMEOWNER HIRED A DAY LABORER TO GRADE HIS PROPERTY FOR A NEW ROADWAY, AND THE DAY LABORER STRUCK THE 10-INCH STEEL TRANSMISSION LINE WITH A RIPPER TOOTH PULLED BY A BULLDOZER. THE HOMEOWNER AND THE LABORER DID NOT CALL USA. PG&E'S GAS SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE WAS ON SITE AT 1201 HOURS. CREWS WERE ON SITE AT APPROXIMATELY 1215 HOURS. FIRE DEPARTMENT, POLICE, AND LOCAL MEDIA WERE OBSERVED ON SCENE. HIGHWAY 1 WAS TEMPORARILY CLOSED IN BOTH DIRECTIONS, AND THE FIRE DEPARTMENT EVACUATED 6 HOMES OUT OF PRECAUTION. PG&E STOPPED THE FLOW OF GAS AT 1510 HOURS BY CLOSING FOUR MAINLINE VALVES TO ISOLATE THE IMPACTED PIPELINE SECTION. A DISTRIBUTION BACK-TIE AROUND THE DAMAGED DFM SECTION WAS ABLE TO SUPPLY GAS TO THE AFFECTED AREA. COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS WAS USED TO SUPPLEMENT GAS SUPPLY; HOWEVER PG&E HAD TO CURTAIL FOUR NON-CORE CUSTOMERS.. THE FOUR IMPACTED CUSTOMERS WERE ABLE TO HAVE GAS SERVICE RESTORED BY 1000 HOURS ON MARCH 1, 2015. ON MARCH 5, 2015, A VISUAL INTEGRITY ASSESSMENT WAS COMPLETED ON DFM 1815-15 AND NO ADDITIONAL DAMAGE WAS OBSERVED ON THE PIPE, SO DFM 1815-15 WAS RESTORED TO NORMAL OPERATING PRESSURE. THIS INCIDENT WAS REPORTED TO THE DOT AND THE CPUC DUE TO DAMAGES EXCEEDING $50,000.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE — THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE.

PHMSA indexed costs: $467,100 reported total cost, $241,605.705 in 1984 dollars, $575,421.258 in current-year dollars.

PHMSA trend flags, standardized causes, and indexed costs are analytical fields added to operator-reported incident data. They do not represent final agency causal findings.
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