CONSUMERS ENERGY CO — Gas distribution — incident on 2017-12-27

Gas distribution incident in FLINT, GENESEE County, MI. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 11960 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: 20180013.

Operator ID: 2748.

Reported incident date: 12/27/2017 4:38.

Location detail: CONSUMERS ENERGY REGULATOR STATION 66079

Cause detail: MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT

Cause detail: ON DECEMBER 27, 2017 AT APPROXIMATELY 04:38 HOURS CONSUMERS ENERGY GAS CONTROL RECEIVED A HIGH-HIGH ALARM AT IDAHO AND ST. JOHN REGULATOR STATION (REGULATOR STATION 66079). THE REGULATOR STATION IS LOCATED IN FLINT, MICHIGAN (GENESEE COUNTY) THE GAS CONTROLLER CONTACTED THE ROYAL OAK WORK MANAGEMENT CENTER (GAS DISPATCH) WHO NOTIFIED THE REGULATION FIELD LEADER AND THE GAS MECHANIC AT 04:48 AND 04:59 RESPECTIVELY. THE GAS MECHANIC (GM) ARRIVED ONSITE AT APPROXIMATELY 08:21. THE RESPONSE TIME WAS DELAYED DUE TO VEHICLE ISSUES RESULTING FROM THE EXTREME COLD WEATHER. THE EMPLOYEE CONTACTED THE GARAGE FOR ASSISTANCE. AN ACTION PLAN TO ADDRESS PROTOCOLS TO FOLLOW WHEN A SITUATION PROHIBITS AN EMPLOYEE FROM RESPONDING TO AN EMERGENCY IN A TIMELY MATTER IS BEING DEVELOPED AND SHOULD MINIMIZE REOCCURRING RESPONSE DELAYS. UPON ARRIVAL THE GM OBSERVED THE RELIEF VALVE BLOWING AT STATION 66079 AND IMMEDIATELY BEGAN TO ISOLATE EACH OF THE TWO REGULATION RUNS AND FOUND THEY WERE NOT THE CAUSE. THE GM CONTACTED GAS SYSTEM PLANNING WHO ADVISED THE GM TO CHECK THE REGULATION EQUIPMENT AT REGULATOR STATION 66044. REGULATOR STATION 66044 IS ON THE SAME HIGH PRESSURE LOOP TO THE SOUTH. WHILE EN-ROUTE TO REGULATOR STATION 66044 THE GM RECEIVED A CALL FROM PERSONNEL ONSITE AT REGULATOR STATION 66079 ADVISING THE BLOWING RELIEF RESET ITSELF AND WAS NO LONGER BLOWING. THE GM PERFORMED LOCK-OFF TEST AT BOTH STATIONS (66079 AND 66044) AND BOTH STATIONS PASSED LOCK-OFF TESTING. BOTH STATIONS WERE CHECKED AND FOUND TO BE OPERATING PROPERLY SO BOTH STATIONS WERE LEFT IN OPERATION DUE TO EXTREME COLD WEATHER CONDITIONS. ON JANUARY 24, 2018 AN INTERNAL EXAMINATION OF THE REGULATORS WAS CONDUCTED. GREASE AND OTHER DEBRIS PARTICLES WERE FOUND AND MAY HAVE BEEN A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR FOR THE ABNORMAL OPERATING CONDITION. AN APPARENT CAUSE WAS COMPLETED AND THE CAUSE IS UNDETERMINED. THE REGULATORS WERE CLEANED AND ONE DIAPHRAGM WAS REPLACED.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious, not fire-first.

PHMSA standardized cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE — MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT.

PHMSA indexed costs: $35,595 reported total cost, $33,240.687 in 1984 dollars, $41,544.885 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.