SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2014-07-18

Gas transmission and gathering incident in BRAWLEY, IMPERIAL County, CA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 26280 NATURAL GAS released, $103,375 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: 20140087.

Operator ID: 18484.

Reported incident date: 7/18/2014 8:00.

Location detail: 241889

Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY

Cause detail: LOCATING ISSUE

Cause detail: FACILITY NOT MARKED DUE TO INCORRECT FACILITY RECORDS/MAPS

Cause detail: ON JULY 18TH, 2014 A CONTRACTOR STRUCK A 10 INCH TRANSMISSION LINE WHILE GRADING, CAUSING A LEAK. NO INJURIES OR PUBLIC PROPERTY DAMAGE RESULTED FROM THIS INCIDENT. DUE TO THE ISOLATED LOCATION OF THE DAMAGE, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE LINE WAS SAFELY VENTING TO ATMOSPHERE WITH NO IMPACTS TO PUBLIC SAFETY OR PROPERTY. A REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM REVEALED THAT CLOSING 2 MAIN LINE VALVES UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM OF THE DAMAGE WOULD HAVE IMPACTED MORE THAN 5 CITIES WITH LARGE INDUSTRIAL CUSTOMERS AND A MILITARY BASE WITH LOSS OF SERVICE. AN ALTERNATIVE PLAN WAS MADE TO BACK FEED THE SYSTEM FROM AN ADJACENT ONE IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN PRESSURE AND SERVICE DOWNSTREAM OF THE DAMAGE. ONCE THIS OPERATION WAS ACCOMPLISHED THE MAIN LINE VALVES WERE CLOSED AND GAS CONTROLLED AT 01:54 ON JULY 19TH. ALL REPAIRS WERE COMPLETED AND THE DAMAGED SECTION OF PIPE WAS REPLACED. THE SINGLE CUSTOMER WHOSE SERVICE WAS INTERRUPTED WAS RESTORED. INVESTIGATION OF THE INCIDENT SHOWED THE CONTRACTOR HAD CONTACTED USA BUT THE DAMAGE LINE WAS NOT MARKED. THE MAPPING SYSTEM INDICATED THREE PIPELINES IN THE VICINITY AND THE EMPLOYEE SUCCESSFULLY LOCATED AND MARKED THREE LINES. THE EMPLOYEE WAS UNAWARE OF A FOURTH LINE THAT WAS NOT MAPPED. THIS INCIDENT WAS REPORTED TO DOT AND THE CPUC DUE TO THE ESTIMATED COSTS WOULD EXCEED $50,000 AND THE GAS LOSS WOULD EXCEED THREE MILLION CUBIC FEET.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

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

PHMSA indexed costs: $425,447 reported total cost, $244,105.82 in 1984 dollars, $470,365.152 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.