Incidenthistorical
PHMSA Report 20180015
TEXAS EASTERN TRANSMISSION, LP (SPECTRA ENERGY PARTNERS, LP) — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2017-12-17
Current as of 2017-12-17 Government source
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Gas transmission and gathering incident in ELKINS PARK, MONTGOMERY County, PA. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 1522 NATURAL GAS released, $90,000 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: 20180015.
Operator ID: 19235.
Reported incident date: 12/17/2017 14:00.
Location detail: 18.59
Cause detail: NON-THREADED CONNECTION FAILURE
Cause detail: PECO BECAME AWARE OF A NATURAL GAS PIPELINE LEAK ON DECEMBER 17, 2017 IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA WHICH PECO HAD REASON TO BELIEVE WAS ASSOCIATED WITH THEIR FACILITIES DUE TO THE CONCENTRATION OF NATURAL GAS IN THAT VICINITY. AFTER PECO EXCAVATED POINTS OVER THEIR PIPELINE FOR TWO DAYS IT BECAME LESS EVIDENT THAT THE LEAK WAS ASSOCIATED WITH A PECO FACILITY. LATE IN THE DAY ON DECEMBER 19, 2017 PECO ADVISED ENBRIDGE THAT NATURAL GAS LEAK NOW APPEARED TO BE IN THE VICINITY OF THE TEXAS EASTERN PIPELINE. THE ENBRIDGE TEXAS EASTERN TRANSMISSION, LP 12-INCH LINE 1-B NATURAL GAS TRANSMISSION PIPELINE IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA WAS DISCOVERED TO HAVE A LEAK ON DECEMBER 20, 2017. THE PIPELINE WAS SHUTDOWN THE SAME DAY. UPON EXCAVATION THE ORIGIN OF THE LEAK WAS DETERMINED TO BE AT A FLANGE. THE FLANGE BOLTS WERE APPARENTLY NOT EQUALLY TIGHTENED. THE FLANGE AND ASSOCIATED PIPING WAS REPLACED WITH PIPE AND THE LINE 1-B WAS RETURNED TO SERVICE ON DECEMBER 21, 2017.
PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.
PHMSA standardized cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE — NON-THREADED CONNECTION FAILURE.
PHMSA indexed costs: $96,036 reported total cost, $49,724.802 in 1984 dollars, $115,379.623 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.
This material provides agency context. It does not replace binding regulatory text, and its legal effect depends on the underlying authority and facts.