PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2012-11-10

Gas transmission and gathering incident in MODESTO, STANISLAUS County, CA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 51000 NATURAL GAS released, $85,000 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: 20120122.

Operator ID: 15007.

Reported incident date: 11/10/2012 14:24.

Location detail: 10.85

Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY

Cause detail: EXCAVATION ISSUE

Cause detail: IMPROPER EXCAVATION PRACTICE NOT LISTED ABOVE

Cause detail: AT APPROXIMATELY 1424 HOURS A FARMER RIPPING A FIELD WEST OF MODESTO STRUCK TRANSMISSION PIPELINE L-148 AT MILE POINT 10.85, RESULTING IN A RELEASE OF GAS. THE EXCAVATOR DID NOT COMPLY WITH EXCAVATION DAMAGE PREVENTION REGULATIONS BY FAILING TO CALL USA PRIOR TO PERFORMING FIELD EXCAVATIONS. PIPELINE MARKERS WERE IN PLACE. PG&E PERSONNEL ARRIVED ON SCENE AT 1500 HOURS. THE FLOW OF GAS WAS CONTROLLED AT 1630 HOURS BY REDUCING THE PIPELINE PRESSURE FROM 318 PSIG TO 60 PSIG, AND THE FLOW OF GAS WAS STOPPED AT 2330 HOURS BY CLOSING AN UPSTREAM VALVE AND A DOWNSTREAM VALVE. PG&E REPLACED THIS DAMAGED SECTION OF PIPE WITH 8-INCH, 0.188-INCH WALL THICKNESS, X-52, HFW PIPE; THESE PERMANENT REPAIRS WERE COMPLETED AT 0730 HOURS ON NOVEMBER 11, 2012. PG&E WAS ABLE TO MAINTAIN SERVICE TO THIRTY-FIVE CUSTOMERS WITH THE TEMPORARY INSTALLATION OF COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS. TWENTY-FIVE OTHER CUSTOMERS EXPERIENCED GAS SERVICE INTERRUPTIONS AND ALL TWENTY-FIVE SERVICES WERE RESTORED BY 1200 HOURS ON NOVEMBER 11, 2012. THERE WERE NO INJURIES, NO FATALITIES AND NO IGNITION AS A RESULT OF THIS INCIDENT. THIS INCIDENT WAS REPORTED TO THE DOT AND CPUC DUE TO COST OF DAMAGES GREATER THAN $50,000 AND AN UNINTENTIONAL RELEASE OF GAS GREATER THAN 3 MMCF.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

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

PHMSA indexed costs: $105,010 reported total cost, $61,479.754 in 1984 dollars, $130,771.153 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.