TEXAS EASTERN TRANSMISSION, LP (SPECTRA ENERGY PARTNERS, LP) — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2019-04-27

Gas transmission and gathering incident in KAESE MILL, GARRETT County, MD. Reported cause: INCORRECT OPERATION. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 3324 NATURAL GAS released, $0 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: 20190060.

Operator ID: 19235.

Reported incident date: 4/27/2019 7:03.

Location detail: 00.00

Cause detail: OTHER INCORRECT OPERATION

Cause detail: ORIGINAL REPORT: 48 HR NRC REPORT 1244152 AT APPROXIMATELY 7:03 AM EDT ON APRIL 27, 2019, AN EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN (ESD) SYSTEM WAS ACTIVATED AT ACCIDENT COMPRESSOR STATION ON THE TEXAS EASTERN TRANSMISSION (TETLP) SYSTEM IN GARRETT COUNTY, MARYLAND. THE ESD OCCURRED WHILE RETURNING A SALT BATH HEATER (SBH) BACK TO NORMAL OPERATIONS. THIS PROCESS INVOLVES USING GAS FIRED AUXILIARY BURNERS TO HEAT THE SALT TO A LIQUID STATE AND USING THE MAIN BURNERS TO KEEP THE SALT AT A LIQUID STATE AFTER THE GAS FIRED AUXILIARY BURNER IS DEACTIVATED. THIS PROCESS WAS BEING PERFORMED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE MANUFACTURER'S RECOMMENDED PROCEDURE. THE ESD WAS TRIGGERED BY THE FIRE DETECTOR NEAR THE GAS FIRED AUXILIARY BURNER THAT DETECTED THE FLAME SIGNATURE. TETLP'S INVESTIGATION DETERMINED THAT BOTH THE AUXILIARY BURNER AND THE FIRE DETECTOR WERE FUNCTIONING AS DESIGNED AT THE TIME OF THE ESD. AS PART OF THE MITIGATIVE PLAN, THE TEMPERATURE OF THE GAS POWERED AUXILIARY BURNER WAS LOWERED DURING STARTUP. FOLLOWING THIS ESD AT THE STATION, REVISIONS WERE MADE TO THE MITIGATIVE PLAN THAT NOW REQUIRES THE FIRE DETECTOR TO BE DISABLED WHEN RETURNING THE SBH TO OPERATIONS AND THE STATION MANNED LOCALLY UNTIL THE FIRE DETECTOR IS ACTIVATED. SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT 10/14/19: CAUSE HAS BEEN UPDATED TO INCORRECT OPERATION.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: INCORRECT OPERATION — OTHER INCORRECT OPERATION.

PHMSA indexed costs: $8,876 reported total cost, $9,202.152 in 1984 dollars, $11,298.845 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.