NATURAL GAS PIPELINE CO OF AMERICA (KMI) — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2017-12-05

Gas transmission and gathering incident in Not Within a Municipality, LEE County, IL. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 2 fatalities, 2 injuries, 12972 NATURAL GAS released, $226,200 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: 20180005.

Operator ID: 13120.

Reported incident date: 12/5/2017 9:35.

Location detail: STN: 2777+18

Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY

Cause detail: NOTIFICATION ISSUE

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

Cause detail: ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017 AT 9:35 AM LOCAL TIME, NATURAL GAS PIPELINE COMPANY OF AMERICA LLC'S (NGPL) 20-INCH PIPELINE, KNOWN AS THE ILLINOIS LATERAL NO. 1 IN LEE COUNTY, ILLINOIS, WAS STRUCK BY A THIRD PARTY OPERATING DRAIN TILE EQUIPMENT. THE INCIDENT OCCURRED AT APPROXIMATELY STATION 2777+18 ON THE ILLINOIS LATERAL NO. 1. UPON CONFIRMATION THAT THE THIRD-PARTY STRIKE CAUSED A RUPTURE AND FIRE RESULTING IN THE DEATHS OF TWO (2) PERSONS AND INJURIES TO TWO (2) OTHERS, WHO WERE IMMEDIATELY HOSPITALIZED, NGPL ISSUED A REVISED NRC NOTICE (NO. 1198866). ONE OF THE INJURED PERSONS WAS RELEASED ON DECEMBER 6, 2017, AND THE OTHER WAS LISTED AS BEING IN STABLE CONDITION ON THE DAY FOLLOWING THE INCIDENT. TWO AUTOMATIC VALVES (I-9 AND I-10) ON THE ILLINOIS LATERAL NO. 1 BEGAN TO CLOSE UPON THE DETECTION OF A PRESSURE LOSS AND ISOLATE THE DAMAGED PORTION OF PIPELINE, AS DESIGNED. VALVE I-9 REQUIRED ADDITIONAL MANUAL OPERATION TO FULLY CLOSE THE VALVE. THIS WAS COMPLETED BY 10:44 AM LOCAL TIME, WITH THE FLOW OF GAS SHUT OFF, THE FIRE CONTAINED, AND LATER EXTINGUISHED. AS A PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE, NGPL ALSO REDUCED THE PRESSURE OF THE ADJACENT ILLINOIS LATERAL NO. 2 TO 485 PSIG PENDING AN INVESTIGATION TO DETERMINE IF IT SUSTAINED ANY DAMAGE AS A RESULT OF THE INCIDENT. UPON ARRIVAL AT THE SITE, A PHMSA REPRESENTATIVE REQUESTED THAT NGPL FURTHER REDUCE THE OPERATING PRESSURE OF ILLINOIS LATERAL NO. 2 TO 450 PSIG, WHICH NGPL DID. RESULTS OF THE ILLINOIS LATERAL NO. 2 INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT NO DAMAGE WAS SUSTAINED AND NGPL BEGAN RE-PRESSURING ILLINOIS LATERAL NO. 2 TO NORMAL OPERATING PRESSURE, CONSISTENT WITH PHMSA REGULATORY REVIEWS AND APPROVALS. ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2017, NGPL BEGAN REPAIRS TO ILLINOIS LATERAL NO. 1. A FINAL 48-HOUR CONFIRMATION NRC REPORT NO. 1199018 WAS PROVIDED THAT SAME DAY WITH A FINAL ESTIMATED VOLUME OF THE RELEASE. REPAIR WORK CONSISTED OF THE REPLACEMENT OF 41 FEET OF 20-INCH PIPE ON THE ILLINOIS LATERAL NO. 1 WITH PRE-PRESSURE TESTED PIPE AND WAS COMPLETED ON DECEMBER 9, 2017, AND AT 4:39 PM CENTRAL TIME, NGPL PLACED ILLINOIS LATERAL NO. 1 BACK INTO FULL SERVICE. NGPL INITIATED AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CAUSE OF THE INCIDENT AND CONCLUDED THAT THE LINE STRIKE AND RUPTURE RESULTED FROM M&R FARMS FAILING TO SUBMIT A LOCATE REQUEST TO JULIE AS REQUIRED BY ILLINOIS LAW PRIOR TO COMMENCING ITS EXCAVATION WORK RELATED TO THE INSTALLATION OF DRAINAGE TILE. BECAUSE M&R FARMS FAILED TO PROVIDE THE REQUISITE NOTIFICATION, NGPL WAS UNABLE TO RESPOND, AND SPECIFICALLY WAS UNABLE TO MARK THE LOCATION OF ITS PIPELINE FACILITIES AND FOLLOW PROCEDURES RELATED TO DAMAGE PREVENTION. NO OTHER POTENTIAL CAUSES WERE IDENTIFIED DURING THE INVESTIGATION.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, serious incident.

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

PHMSA indexed costs: $973,241 reported total cost, $514,684.711 in 1984 dollars, $1,168,385.022 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.