COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION, LLC — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2016-05-04

Gas transmission and gathering incident in FOSTER, BRACKEN County, KY. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 11461 NATURAL GAS released, $15,000 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: 20160043.

Operator ID: 2616.

Reported incident date: 5/4/2016 11:20.

Location detail: VS- 6070

Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY OPERATOR'S CONTRACTOR (SECOND PARTY)

Cause detail: MISCELLANEOUS ROOT CAUSES

Cause detail: ROOT CAUSE NOT LISTED (COMMENT REQUIRED)

Cause detail: ON MAY 4, 2016, A CONTRACTOR PERFORMING A CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY WITHIN THE RIGHT-OF-WAY OF LINE E-LOOP, DAMAGED A TRANSMISSION PIPELINE THAT WAS CAUSED BY THE RIPPER ON A DOZER PUNCTURING THE PIPELINE. LINE E-LOOP IS A TRANSMISSION PIPELINE THAT IS OWNED, OPERATED AND MAINTAINED BY COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION, LLC (COLUMBIA). THE PIPELINE WAS OPERATING AT APPROXIMATELY 750 PSIG WITH 1,000 PSIG BEING ITS MAOP, PIPELINE DIAMETER IS 20-INCHES WITH 0.375-INCH WALL THICKNESS, AND ITS GRADE IS X45. THERE WERE NO REPORTED FATALITIES, INJURIES OR ANY NEARBY ROADS THAT WERE SHUT DOWN. FURTHERMORE, THE UNINTENDED RELEASE OF NATURAL GAS (MATERIAL) DID NOT IGNITE. INITIAL INFORMATION INDICATED THAT THE LINE WHERE THE INCIDENT TOOK PLACE IS A CLASS 1 LOCATION SOUTH OF EDEN RIDGE ROAD NEAR THE TOWN OF FOSTER IN BRACKEN COUNTY, KY. COLUMBIA OPERATIONS PERSONNEL WHO RESPONDED TO THE INCIDENT AREA WENT TO THE NEAREST CRITICAL VALVES AND OPERATED THEM TO ISOLATE THE AFFECTED SEGMENT OF LINE E-LOOP. THE TWO CRITICAL VALVES WERE FULLY CLOSED AT 12:08 PM AND 12:11 PM RESPECTIVELY PREVENTING ADDITIONAL RELEASE OF MATERIAL INTO ATMOSPHERE. THEREAFTER, THE LINE WAS BLOWN DOWN TO ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE AND INVESTIGATION INTO THE INCIDENT WAS INITIATED AFTER THE AREA WAS FULLY SECURED. A PRE-TESTED PIPE JOINTS WITH THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERISTICS 20-IN DIAMETER WITH 0.375-IN WT, GRADE X-65, TESTED TO A CLASS 3 LOCATION TEST PRESSURE WAS INSTALLED AND REPLACED THE DAMAGED SECTION. THE TIE-IN WELDS WERE NON-DESTRUCTIVELY EXAMINED (NDE). AFTER CONFIRMING THAT THE NDE RESULTS HAD NO ABNORMAL INDICATIONS AND THAT ALL WELDS WERE WITHIN CODE REQUIREMENTS, THE LINE WAS RETURNED BACK INTO SERVICE. AN INVESTIGATION CONDUCTED BY THE CONTRACTOR, CONCLUDED THAT ADDITIONAL SAFETY MEASURES HAVE TO BE ADDED TO THEIR PRACTICE AND EVALUATED ACTIONS WITH THEIR PERSONNEL TO PREVENT EVENTS SIMILAR FROM OCCURRING ON OTHER WORK LOCATION.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE — OPERATOR/CONTRACTOR EXCAVATION DAMAGE.

PHMSA indexed costs: $46,526 reported total cost, $41,028.577 in 1984 dollars, $59,592.698 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.