EL PASO NATURAL GAS CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2011-08-16

Gas transmission and gathering incident in YA TA HEY, MCKINLEY County, NM. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 18341 NATURAL GAS released, $102,500 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: 20110301.

Operator ID: 4280.

Reported incident date: 8/16/2011 14:58.

Location detail: 4+1290.18

Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY

Cause detail: NOTIFICATION ISSUE

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

Cause detail: EL PASO NATURAL GAS (EPNG) COMPANY WAS NOTIFIED ON AUGUST 16, 2011, BY THE NEW MEXICO STATE POLICE OF A NATURAL GAS RELEASE AT MCKINLEY COUNTY ROAD 57. EPNG GAS CONTROL CONFIRMED A RAPID PRESSURE DROP IN THE EPNG 4" 2207 LINE AND DISPATCHED FIELD PERSONNEL TO THE SCENE. A MCKINLEY COUNTY ROAD GRADER HAD PUNCTURED THE PIPELINE BUT THERE WAS NO FIRE OR EXPLOSION AND NO INJURIES NOR FATALITIES. EPNG PERSONNEL ISOLATED THE PIPELINE AND REPAIRED IT BY CUTTING IN A NEW CYLINDER OF PIPE. THE PIPELINE WAS SUCCESSFULLY PLACED BACK INTO SERVICE ON THE EVENING OF THE 16TH.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

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

PHMSA indexed costs: $213,997 reported total cost, $133,202.461 in 1984 dollars, $231,439.579 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.