CENTRAL HUDSON GAS & ELECTRIC CORP — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2011-08-29

Gas transmission and gathering incident in CORNWALL, ORANGE County, NY. Reported cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 11666 NATURAL GAS released, $440,000 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: 20110370.

Operator ID: 2196.

Reported incident date: 8/29/2011 3:56.

Location detail: 116 + 61

Cause detail: HEAVY RAINS/FLOODS

Cause detail: DURING TROPICAL STORM IRENE, SEVERAL HUNDRED FEET OF THE MOODNA CREEK BANK LOCATED IN THE TOWN OF CORNWALL, NEW YORK, COLLAPSED DUE TO BANK EROSION CAUSED BY EXCESSIVE HURRICANE RAIN WATER AND UNDERMINED THIS 6" CARBON STEEL (0.219" WALL THICKNESS) 1961 VINTAGE PIPELINE OPERATING AT 450 PSIG AT THE TIME OF THE FAILURE WITH AN MAOP OF 565 PSIG. THE PIPELINE FAILED AT A WELD ADJACENT TO A 90 DEGREE BEND ON AN OLD RAILROAD BED AT THE TOP OF THE RIVER BANK. APPROXIMATELY 1370 FEET OF THIS 6" PIPELINE WAS RE-ROUTED AND INSTALLED ON A NEW RIGHT OF WAY AWAY FROM THE ERODED MOODNA CREEK BANK. THE NEW PIPELINE SECTION WAS CONSTRUCTED WITH 0.280" WALL THICKNESS X42/X52 STEEL AND A 6" ABOVE GRADE VALVE AND PLACED IN SERVICE ON 12/19/2011. ORIGINAL SUBMITTAL ESTIMATE OF REPAIR COSTS WAS UPDATED TO INCLUDE ADDITIONAL COSTS DUE TO CONSTRUCTION OF ABOVE GRADE VALVE, EASEMENT CONSIDERATIONS DUE TO A NEW NEGOTIATED RIGHT OF WAY WITH THE ADJACENT PROPERTY OWNER, AND CONSTRUCTION EASEMENT CONSIDERATIONS WITH THE NEW RIGHT OF WAY.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE — HEAVY RAINS/FLOODS.

PHMSA indexed costs: $541,173 reported total cost, $298,716.55 in 1984 dollars, $691,312.437 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.