Incidenthistorical
PHMSA Report 20180108
CENTERPOINT ENERGY RESOURCES CORP., DBA CENTERPOINT ENERGY MINNESOTA GAS — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2018-09-20
Current as of 2018-09-20 Government source
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Gas transmission and gathering incident in FARIBAULT, RICE County, MN. Reported cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 10367 NATURAL GAS released, $10,327 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: 20180108.
Operator ID: 12350.
Reported incident date: 9/20/2018 20:16.
Location detail: TOWN BORDER S
Cause detail: OTHER NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE
Cause detail: SEPTEMBER 2018, A STORM ' THUNDER, LIGHTNING, TORNADO, HIGH WINDS AND STATIC ELECTRICITY - CAME THROUGH THE FARIBAULT AREA. A CENTERPOINT ENERGY REGULATOR WAS DAMAGED DURING THE STORM CAUSING A FIRE. THE STRAINER/ FILTER WAS DAMAGED BY THE FIRE. PRIOR TO CENTERPOINT ENERGY EMPLOYEES ARRIVING ON SCENE, NORTHERN NATURAL GAS HAD SHUT OFF THE FEED TO THE REGULATOR SYSTEM. CENTERPOINT ENERGY LOST COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE RTU UNIT DUE TO THE INCIDENT. NO ALARMS OR ALERTS WERE RAISED IN SCADA, HOWEVER, SCADA COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE SITE WERE INSTANTANEOUSLY INTERRUPTED AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT. AN INSULATOR, WHICH WAS CHECKED THE YEAR PRIOR, SEPARATING THE BUSINESS FROM CENTERPOINT ENERGY'S DISTRIBUTION, WAS SHORTED. THE INSULATOR WAS REPLACED AND IS FUNCTIONING PROPERLY. THE REGULATOR STATION IS ALSO FUNCTIONING PROPERLY. THE ROOT CAUSE FOR THE INCIDENT IS UNKNOWN.
PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.
PHMSA standardized cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE — OTHER NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE.
PHMSA indexed costs: $113,224 reported total cost, $67,336.071 in 1984 dollars, $132,330.317 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.