# NORTHERN NATURAL GAS CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2018-11-27

- **operation:** document
- **citation:** PHMSA Report 20180128
- **title:** NORTHERN NATURAL GAS CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2018-11-27
- **source type:** incident
- **agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
- **status:** historical
- **official:** true
- **published on:** 2018-12-13
- **effective on:** 2018-11-27
- **summary:** Gas transmission and gathering incident in Not Within a Municipality, STORY County, IA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 7000 NATURAL GAS released, $90,000 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. PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.
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**body:**

Gas transmission and gathering incident in Not Within a Municipality, STORY County, IA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 7000 NATURAL GAS released, $90,000 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: 20180128.

Operator ID: 13750.

Reported incident date: 11/27/2018 9:45.

Location detail: 20.5

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 NOVEMBER 27, 2018, MUMM BACKHOE AND EXCAVATING, LLC, WAS INSTALLING DRAIN TILE IN FARMLAND LOCATED NEAR COLO, IOWA. COMPANY OWNER GREG MUMM ("MUMM") AND EMPLOYEE TIM ABEL ("ABEL") WERE HIRED BY LAND OWNER DAVE EGGER ("EGGER") TO INSTALL DRAIN TILE IN HIS FARM FIELD DUE TO DRAINAGE ISSUES ENCOUNTERED EARLIER IN THE YEAR. ABEL WAS OPERATING THE TILING MACHINE ON THE SOUTHEAST 1/4 SECTION, (S34, T48N, R21W) IN STORY COUNTY, IOWA, AND MUMM WAS ROUTING DRAIN TILE WITH HIS VEHICLE AND DRAIN TILE TRAILER. AT APPROXIMATELY 0945, ABEL WAS USING THE TILING MACHINE TO INSTALL DRAIN TILE IN THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF THE PROPERTY IN AN EASTERLY DIRECTION AND MADE CONTACT WITH AND DAMAGED NORTHERN NATURAL GAS ("NORTHERN") 10-INCH-DIAMETER IAB66101 BRANCH LINE CAUSING A RUPTURE AND GAS LEAK. NORTHERN ISOLATED AND BLEW DOWN BRANCH LINE IAB66101 AND COMPLETED REPAIRS TO RESTORE SERVICE NOVEMBER 29, 2018. THE INCIDENT RESULTED IN A GAS RELEASE OF APPROXIMATELY 7.0 MCF AND AN EMERGENCY WHICH WAS REPORTED TO THE NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER (NOTIFICATION #1231388 AND 1231571). THE ROOT CAUSE WAS FAILURE BY MUMM TO MAKE A ONE CALL NOTIFICATION PRIOR TO PERFORMING TRENCHING ACTIVITIES. HAD MUMM PROPERLY SUBMITTED A ONE CALL, THIS WOULD HAVE NOTIFIED NORTHERN TO PERFORM A LINE LOCATE, WHICH COULD HAVE PREVENTED THE LINE STRIKE.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

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

PHMSA indexed costs: $132,410 reported total cost, $78,033.567 in 1984 dollars, $154,800.525 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.
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