PHMSA Report 20180007 - PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2017-12-06 | Regulus

Gas transmission and gathering incident in SUNOL, ALAMEDA County, CA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 1750 NATURAL GAS released, $314,000 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: 20180007.

Operator ID: 15007.

Reported incident date: 12/6/2017 12:23.

Location detail: 45.31

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 12/06/17 AT APPROXIMATELY 1223 HOURS, PG&E WAS NOTIFIED OF A THIRD PARTY DIG IN AT 4255 SHERIDAN ROAD, SUNOL. THE PROPERTY OWNER WAS EXCAVATING A FIRE ROAD USING A D6 BULLDOZER AND STRUCK L-131 (MILE POINT 45.3), A 24' STEEL TRANSMISSION LINE, CAUSING AN UNINTENTIONAL RELEASE OF GAS. THE PROPERTY OWNER DID NOT HAVE A VALID USA TICKET. PG&E GSR ARRIVED ON SITE AT 1240 HOURS AND THE M&C SUPERVISOR ARRIVED ON-SITE AT 1250 HOURS. THE FLOW OF GAS WAS STOPPED AT APPROXIMATELY 1305 HOURS BY REMOTELY CLOSING ISOLATION VALVES LOCATED AT MP 38.72 AND 46.32. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT REMAINED ON SITE UNTIL THE RELEASE OF GAS STOPPED. APPROXIMATELY 11 SERVICES LOST GAS DUE TO THE DIG IN AND 80 CUSTOMERS WERE SHUT IN PROACTIVELY. CNG WAS BROUGHT IN TO SUPPLY AFFECTED CUSTOMERS. AS OF 12/9/17 ALL CUSTOMERS EXCEPT VACANT HOMES AND BUSINESS WERE RESTORED. ON 12/8/17, PG&E REMOVED THE DAMAGED PORTION OF PIPELINE . THESE SECTIONS OF PIPELINE WERE SENT TO AN INDEPENDENT ENGINEERING FIRM (EXPONENT) FOR METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS. THERE WERE NO INJURIES, NO FATALITIES, NO MEDIA AND NO IGNITION ASSOCIATED WITH THIS INCIDENT . THIS INCIDENT IS BEING REPORTED TO THE DOT (1199008) AND THE CPUC DUE TO DAMAGES ESTIMATED TO EXCEED $50,000. AN UPDATE WAS PROVIDED TO THE DOT (1199102) ON 12/7/17.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

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

PHMSA indexed costs: $383,000 reported total cost, $195,970.146 in 1984 dollars, $460,336.5 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.