NORTHERN NATURAL GAS CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2013-11-01

Gas transmission and gathering incident in PRAIRIE CITY, JASPER County, IA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 7119 NATURAL GAS released, $50,000 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: 20130097.

Operator ID: 13750.

Reported incident date: 11/1/2013 16:35.

Location detail: 5.59

Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY

Cause detail: NOTIFICATION ISSUE

Cause detail: NO NOTIFICATION MADE TO THE ONE-CALL CENTER/811

Cause detail: AT APPROXIMATELY 4:30 PM (16:30) ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2013, NORM ROZENDAAL TILING, INC WAS INSTALLING DRAIN TILE ON A FARM NEAR PRAIRIE CITY, IOWA WHEN HIS TILE MACHINE IMPACTED AND PUNCTURED A HOLE IN NORTHERN NATURAL GAS COMPANY'S 4-INCH MONROE, IOWA (IAB42801) BRANCH LINE. THE OPERATOR EVACUATED THE TILE MACHINE IN-PLACE WHEN HE HEARD GAS BLOWING AND CALLED 911. NORTHERN PERSONNEL WERE DISPATCHED TO THE SITE TO CONTROL THE EMERGENCY AND BEGIN REPAIRS IMMEDIATELY. THE PIPELINE IS CONNECTED TO 3 IOWA TOWNS THAT NEVER LOST SERVICE WHEN NORTHERN UTILIZED THEIR VOLUME BOTTLE TRAILERS AND WERE ABLE TO CONTINUE SERVICE TO CUSTOMERS WHILE THE PIPELINE WAS BEING REPAIRED. THE REPAIR CONSISTED OF INSTALLING A 10'-4" LENGTH OF PIPE REPLACEMENT. THE DAMAGED SECTION IS BEING HELD FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS. THE PIPELINE WAS RETURNED TO SERVICE AT APPROXIMATELY 9:00 AM (09:00) ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2013. THERE WAS NO ONE-CALL MADE TO THE IOWA ONE-CALL CENTER PRIOR TO THE EXCVATION.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

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

PHMSA indexed costs: $124,000 reported total cost, $71,149.69 in 1984 dollars, $151,231.424 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.