PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2014-10-24

Gas transmission and gathering incident in BAKERSFIELD, KERN County, CA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 92000 NATURAL GAS released, $520,000 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: 20140126.

Operator ID: 15007.

Reported incident date: 10/24/2014 7:28.

Location detail: MP 271.55

Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY

Cause detail: LOCATING ISSUE

Cause detail: FACILITY NOT MARKED DUE TO LOCATOR ERROR

Cause detail: AT 0732 HOURS ON OCT. 24, 2014, PG&E WAS INFORMED OF A THIRD-PARTY DIG IN NEAR WIBLE ROAD AND HOUGHTON ROAD IN BAKERSFIELD. A THIRD PARTY FURROWING A FIELD STRUCK TRANSMISSION LINE L-300A CAUSING AN UNINTENTIONAL RELEASE OF NATURAL GAS. L-300A IS A 34-INCH LINE LOCATED DOWNSTREAM OF MILE POINT 270.85, DURING THE INCIDENT, VALVES AT MP 270.85 AND MP278.70 WERE CLOSED AND THE BLOWOFF VALVES (AT BOTH LOCATIONS) WERE OPENED TO EXPEDITE DEPRESSURIZING OF APPROXIMATELY 8 MILES OF THE PIPE. THE FLOW OF GAS STOPPED AT 1151 HOURS. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT ESTABLISHED AN 8 SQUARE-MILE EXCLUSION ZONE AROUND THE DIG-IN AREA AND EVACUATED TWO ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. NO INJURIES, NO FATALITIES, AND NO IGNITION OCCURRED DURING THE INCIDENT. KERN COUNTY FIRE LIFTED THE EXCLUSION ZONE AT ABOUT 1230 HOURS. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS PERSONNEL MONITORED THE AIR QUALITY FOR APPROXIMATELY 30 MINUTES AFTER THE GAS WAS SHUT IN AND DEEMED IT WAS SAFE TO LIFT THE ORDER. TRAFFIC CONTROL WAS CONDUCTED BY THE CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL AND KERN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE. TRANSMISSION LINE L-312, WHICH IS TAPPED OFF OF THIS SECTION OF L-300A AND SERVES ROUGHLY 100 CUSTOMERS, WAS ALSO ISOLATED BUT DUE TO LINE PACK THE CUSTOMERS WERE NOT AFFECTED. THREE COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS LOST SERVICE DURING THE INCIDENT: TEXACO, VULCAN MATERIALS, AND INDUSTRIAL OIL AND ASPHALT. BY 0900 HOURS ON OCT. 26, VULCAN AND RIDGELINE OIL AND ASPHALT WERE RETURNED TO SERVICE. LINE 312 AND TEXACO WERE RETURNED TO SERVICE AT APPROXIMATELY 1100 HOURS ON OCT. 26. REPAIRS WERE MADE BY REPLACING THE DAMAGED PORTION OF PIPELINE WITH PRE-TESTED PIPE, SUCCESSFUL RADIOGRAPHIC EXAMINATIONS OF THE WELDS WERE MADE, AND THE APPROXIMATE 8 MILES OF L-300A WAS PURGED AND RE-PRESSURIZED WITH NATURAL GAS PRIOR TO 0145 HOURS ON OCT. 26, 2014. THE FACILITY WAS NOT LOCATED AND MARKED UNDER USA TICKET 422144. THE INCIDENT WAS REPORTED TO THE CPUC AND DOT BECAUSE DAMAGES EXCEED $50,000. SAFETY AND ENFORCEMENT DIVISION OF THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION (CPUC) ISSUED A CITATION TO PG&E FOR FAILING TO FOLLOW ITS PROCEDURES TO ADEQUATELY DOCUMENT THE EXCAVATION AREA IN USA TICKET 0422144 AND FOR FAILING TO SUBMIT A SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT TO PHMSA REFLECTING THIS INFORMATION. THIS INCIDENT IS CURRENTLY THE SUBJECT OF A DISPUTE IN A CIVIL LAW SUIT PENDING IN KERN COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA ENTITLED PG&E V. ALEXANDER ET AL. CASE NO. BCV-15-101623 AND RELATED CROSS-ACTION. PG&E WILL SUBMIT A SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT TO PHMSA WHEN THE LITIGATION IS RESOLVED.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

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

PHMSA indexed costs: $979,000 reported total cost, $581,379.31 in 1984 dollars, $1,039,668.266 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.