GAS TRANSMISSION NORTHWEST LLC — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2013-03-14

Gas transmission and gathering incident in LACROSSE, WHITMAN County, WA. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 1 NATURAL GAS released, $313,000 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: 20130032.

Operator ID: 15014.

Reported incident date: 3/14/2013 17:05.

Location detail: 179.3

Cause detail: THREADED CONNECTION/COUPLING FAILURE

Cause detail: THE LANDOWNER REPORTED AN AREA OF DEAD VEGETATION OVER THE PIPELINE. PIPELINE PERSONNEL DETECTED GAS IN A PROBE HOLE OVER THE PIPELINE, BUT NOT IN THE AIR ABOVE GROUND. THE PIPELINE SECTION WAS ISOLATED AND PRESSURE REDUCED TO 125 PSIG. THE AREA WAS EXCAVATED AND A BRANCH CONNECTION WAS FOUND. THE 2" BRANCH CONNECTION HAD A PIPE CAP AND THE LEAK WAS FOUND AT THE THREADS OF THE PIPE CAP. THE CAUSE OF THE LEAKAGE PAST THE THREADS OF THE FITTING IS UNKNOWN, BUT THE FITTING WAS NOT BROKEN. THE PIPELINE WAS VENTED TO NEAR ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE. THE BRANCH CONNECTION WAS SANDBLASTED AND THREADED CONNECTION WAS SEAL-WELDED. THE PIPELINE WAS PUT BACK IN OPERATION AND THE EXPOSED PIPE WAS RECOATED AND BACKFILLED.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE — THREADED CONNECTION/COUPLING FAILURE.

PHMSA indexed costs: $544,030 reported total cost, $341,001.448 in 1984 dollars, $635,869.517 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.