HARBOR PIPELINE CO — Hazardous liquid — incident on 2007-11-27

Hazardous liquid incident in BORDENTOWN, BURLINGTON County, NJ. Reported cause: 19. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, YES REFINED PRODUCTS released, $346,500 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: 20070358.

Operator ID: 7063.

Reported incident date: 11/27/2007.

Cause detail: PIPE SEAM WELD

Cause detail: IN RESPONSE TO A PETROLEUM SHEEN IDENTIFIED ON THE CROSSWICKS CREEK IN THE VICINITY OF THE 16-INCH HARBOR PIPELINE, A NEARBY COLONIAL PIPELINE AND NEARBY BURIED PETROLEUM STORAGE TANKS OWNED BY THE NEW JERSEY TURNPIKE COMMISSION, INVESTIGATION INTO THE SOURCE OF THE SHEEN HAS BEEN ON-GOING BY ALL THREE ENTITIES. ON NOVEMBER 27, 2007 PIPELINE CREWS STRIPPING OUT THE HARBOR PIPELINE DISCOVERED PRODUCT AND SOFTENED PIPELINE COATING ON THE 16-INCH PIPELINE. THE LINE WAS SHUT DOWN AND MLV�S CLOSED. A LEAK CLAMP WAS INSTALLED OVER THE LEAK AREA AND THE LINE RESTARTED WITHIN 5 HOURS OF DISCOVERY. FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION HAS NOT STARTED BUT THE COST OF OPERATOR LOSSES INCLUDES $75,000 FOR FUTURE MONEY THAT IS ESTIMATED TO COVER REMAINING ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION TO CLOSURE COSTS. THE FAILED SECTION OF PIPE WAS CUTOUT AND SENT TO KIEFNER & ASSOCIATES FOR METALLURGICAL EVALUATION OF THE FAILURE. THEIR FINDINGS CONCLUDE �THE LEAK WAS CAUSED BY SEAM ANOMALIES IN THE FORM OF SMALL HOOK CRACKS IN CONJUNCTION WITH A LACK OF FUSION IN A LOCALIZED AREA ADJACENT TO GIRTH WELD NUMBER 46850. THIS INSTANCE IS MOST LIKELY A UNIQUE AND ISOLATED CONDITION." EXAMINATION REVEALED THE LEAKING CRACK TO BE ABOUT 1-INCH LONG ON THE PIPE ID AND 0.2-INCHES LONG ON THE PIPE OD WITH "NO EVIDENCE OF CRACK GROWTH DUE TO FATIGUE.� THE KIEFNER REPORT ALSO REVIEWED THE FOUR HISTORICAL SERVICE FAILURES THAT OCCURRED ON THE HARBOR PIPELINE OVER ITS LIFE AND NONE OF THEM WERE ASSOCIATED WITH FLAWS IN THE LONGITUDINAL SEAM.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: MATERIAL FAILURE OF PIPE OR WELD — PIPE SEAM.

PHMSA indexed costs: $346,500 reported total cost, $197,213.691 in 1984 dollars, $485,676.626 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.