ENBRIDGE ENERGY, LIMITED PARTNERSHIP — Hazardous liquid — incident on 2015-08-15

Hazardous liquid incident in SUPERIOR, DOUGLAS County, WI. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 0.71 CRUDE OIL released, $12,046 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: 20150327.

Operator ID: 11169.

Reported incident date: 8/15/2015 10:23.

Location detail: SUPERIOR TERM

Cause detail: THREADED CONNECTION/COUPLING FAILURE

Cause detail: ON AUGUST 15, 2015 AT APPROXIMATELY 10:23 AM, AN ENBRIDGE CONTRACTOR REPORTED APPROXIMATELY 30 GALLONS OF CRUDE OIL IN THE AREA OF THE SMALL DIAMETER PIPING OF VALVE 222-SV-15 NEAR TANK 15 IN THE SUPERIOR TERMINAL. THE EDMONTON CONTROL CENTER WAS CONTACTED AND TANK 15 WAS ISOLATED. A PIPELINE MAINTENANCE CREW WAS DISPATCHED TO DETERMINE THE SOURCE OF THE LEAK. IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT THE NIPPLE ON THE LOWER BODY BLOCK AND BLEED WAS CRACKED AT THE POINT IT ENTERS INTO THE VALVE BODY. THE NIPPLE WAS REMOVED AND A PLUG WAS INSTALLED LATER THAT AFTERNOON AND THE LINE TURNED BACK OVER TO THE CONTROL CENTER. THE INTERNAL INCIDENT INVESTIGATION DISCOVERED THAT THE THREADS WERE CRACKED AT THE TIME OF INSTALLATION DUE TO APPLYING UNEVEN FORCE WHILE THREADING THE NIPPLE INTO THE VALVE BODY. THE LOWER BODY BLOCK AND BLEED ASSEMBLY WILL BE REPLACED BY YEAR END. APPROXIMATELY 130 CUBIC YARDS OF CONTAMINATED SOIL WAS HAULED TO AN APPROVED DISPOSAL SITE.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE — THREADED CONNECTION/COUPLING FAILURE.

PHMSA indexed costs: $28,137 reported total cost, $14,115.399 in 1984 dollars, $34,761.885 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.