COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION, LLC — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2017-07-24

Gas transmission and gathering incident in Not Within a Municipality, STARK County, OH. Reported cause: INCORRECT OPERATION. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 10453 NATURAL GAS released, $38,289 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: 20170070.

Operator ID: 2616.

Reported incident date: 7/24/2017 11:45.

Location detail: 0+40

Cause detail: DAMAGE BY OPERATOR OR OPERATOR'S CONTRACTOR NOT RELATED TO EXCAVATION AND NOT DUE TO MOTORIZED VEHICLE/EQUIPMENT DAMAGE

Cause detail: ON 7/24/17 A GAS RELEASE OCCURRED ON PIPELINE V-243 A TRANSMISSION CARBON STEEL 6" DIAMETER PIPELINE LOCATED IN STARK COUNTY, OHIO. LINE V-243 IS A SIDELINE CONNECTION TO LINE V. A COMPANY CONTRACTOR WAS REMOVING THE BRIDAL SETTING THAT GOES AROUND THE MAINLINE VALVE TO LINE V AND THE GAUNTER REGULATOR STATION (RS) 02345 TO REPLACE WITH A NEW PREFABRICATED BRIDAL SETTING. THE OLD 4" PIPELINE WAS HAND SPOTTED AND THEN EXCAVATED EXPOSING BOTH THE TOP AND SIDES OF THE PIPELINE GOING INTO THE M&R BUILDING. SINCE WORK WAS NOT SCHEDULED ON LINE V-243 THIS PIPELINE WAS NOT EXPOSED. LINE V-243 RUNS PARALLEL TO THE 4" DIAMETER PIPELINE THAT WAS EXPOSED AND WAS BEING REMOVED. THE PLAN WAS TO REMOVE THE 4" PIPELINE AND THEN FINISH EXCAVATING. THE 4" PIPELINE WAS BLOWN DOWN AND THE BOLTS FROM TWO 4" FLANGES WERE REMOVED. THE KICK BRACE THAT WENT TO THE MAINLINE VALVE KICK BRACE WAS CUT, AND THE 4" DIAMETER PIPE UP TO THE M&R BUILDING WAS COLD CUT. A SLING WAS CONNECTED TO THE BRIDAL SETTING TO LIFT UP THE OLD BRIDAL SETTING. WHILE LIFTING UP THE BRIDAL SETTING THERE WAS A RELEASE OF GAS PRESSURE. THE GAS RELEASE WAS COMING FROM THE 6" PIPELINE (V-243). AFTER A SHORT TIME, THE GAS BLOWING FROM LINE V-243 UNCOVERED A 2" KICK BRACE THAT WAS RUNNING FROM THE OLD 4" PIPELINE TO LINE V-243 WAS DISCOVERED ABOUT 24" BELOW GROUND. THE CONTRACTOR DID NOT COME INTO CONTACT WITH LINE V-243. LINE V-243 DEPTH OF COVER WAS 60 INCHES. ON7/25/26 CNG TRUCKS WERE CONNECTED TO LINE-243 TO MAINTAIN MARKET DELIVERABILITY WHILE LINE V-243 WAS ISOLATED TO MAKE REPAIRS. LINE V-243 WAS SHUT IN AND THE AREA MADE SAFE ON 7/25/17 AT 21:25. THREE FARM TAPS WERE TAKEN OUT-OF-SERVICE WHILE REPAIRS WERE MADE. REPAIRS CONSISTED OF REMOVING THE DAMAGE SECTION OF LINE V-243 AND REPLACING IT WITH A NEW PRE-TESTED 10.5 INCH PIPELINE IN LENGTH, 6" IN DIAMETER, 0.280 WALL, X-52 PIPE AND NEW 6" IN DIAMETER 90 DEGREE ELBOW, 0.280 WALL, GRADE B. LINE V-243 WAS RETURNED TO SERVICE ON 7/26/17 AT 16:26. THE 2" KICK BRACE THAT WAS CONNECT TO LINE V-243 FROM THE OLD 4" PIPELINE WAS REMOVED.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: INCORRECT OPERATION — DAMAGE BY OPERATOR OR OPERATOR'S CONTRACTOR.

PHMSA indexed costs: $162,457 reported total cost, $93,340.115 in 1984 dollars, $194,419.534 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.