SINCLAIR PIPELINE CO — Hazardous liquid — incident on 2003-03-26

Hazardous liquid incident in ELK MOUNTAIN, CARBON County, WY. Reported cause: 12. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, YES UNLEADED REGULAR GASOLINE released, $401,000 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: 20030208.

Operator ID: 15156.

Reported incident date: 3/26/2003.

Cause detail: RUPTURE OF PREVIOUSLY DAMAGED PIPE

Cause detail: SINCLAIR'S RESPONSE TO PART F.2.E INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING: LESS THAN ONE BARREL OF PRODUCT REACHED AN OFF-STREAM STOCKPOND. NO HYDROLOGIC CONNECTION EXISTS BETWEEN THAT STOCKPOND AND WATERS OF THE U.S. THIS SPILL DID NOT RESULT IN WATER POLLUTION AS DESCRIBED UNDER 49 CFR 195.52(A)(4). ON MARCH 26, 2003 OPERATION COORDINATOR TANE HARTMAN RECEIVED LOW PRESSURE ALARMS ON SCADA AT ELK MOUNTAIN STATION (16:56:38) AND SINCLAIR STATION (16:57:10), AND A SINCLAIR HIGH RATE ALARM (16:57:17). TANE INITIATED SHUTDOWN PROCEDURES ON THE LINE AT 16:57:30, BY SHUTTING DOWN THE PUMPING UNITS AT SINCLAIR AND CLOSING BLOCK VALVES AT SINCLAIR, LARAMIE STATION, LOVELAND STATION AND DENVER PRODUCTS TERMINAL. AT THE TIME, THE LINEFILL CONSISTED ON 32,215 BBLS OF #2 FUEL OIL AND 10,124 BBLS OF GASOLINE. AT 60,000 BBL GASOLINE BATCH HAD BEEN STARTED AT 04:30. LOGS INDICATE THAT LINE PRESSURE AT SINCLAIR WAS 1721 PSI AND 1360 PSI AT ELK MOUNTAIN PRIOR TO THE RUPTURE. SINCLAIR WAS RUNNING THREE UNITS IN SERIES, CONTROLLING ON DISCHARGE, WITH A SETPOINT OF 1730 PSI. NO INTERMEDIATE PUMP STATIONS WERE IN OPERATION. DRAG REDUCER WAS BEING INJECTED AT SINCLAIR AND THE RATE ON THE LINE WAS APPROXIMATELY 810 BPH. THIS WAS THE NORMAL OPERATION FOR THIS PIPELINE. INTERNAL NOTIFICATION BEGAN IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LINE WAS SHUTDOWN AND BLOCKED IN. OPERATIONS SUPERVISOR CHRIS FLACK AND OIL MOVEMENTS SUPERVISOR PAT WILSON WERE THE FIRST CALLED. CHRIS WAS AT THE CONTROL CENTER WITHIN 20 MINUTES AND HAD STARTED MAKING FURTHER INTERNAL NOTIFICATIONS WHILE ON ROUTE, INCLUDING NOTIFICATION TO MARK PETERSEN, SINCLAIR�S MANAGER OF PIPELINES AND TERMINALS IN SALT LAKE CITY. SINCLAIR PIPELINE (SPL) EMPLOYEES WERE DISPATCHED TO SECTIONALIZE THE LINE BETWEEN LARAMIE STATION AND SINCLAIR. PRESSURE WAS HOLDING AT LARAMIE AND PRESSURE CONTINUED TO DROP AT ELK MOUNTAIN. BOTH THE CARBON COUNTY AND ALBANY COUNTY SHERIFFS WERE CALLED TO NOTIFY OF A POSSIBLE LEAK AND TO REPORT TO US ANY REPORTS OF GASOLINE ODORS ETC. DISTRICT MANAGER BARRY BLUTH, WHO WAS WESTBOUND ON I-80 BETWEEN LARAMIE AND CHEYENNE AT THE TIME OF NOTIFICATION, WAS THE FIRST TO REPORT AN ODOR WHEN HE CROSSED THE MEDICINE BOW RIVER IN ELK MOUNTAIN. HE PROCEEDED TO CLOSE THE ELK MOUNTAIN HIGHWAY BLOCK VALVE (18:48) AND JON BROWN CLOSED THE BARTLETT BLOCK VALVE (18:52) THEREBY ISOLATING THE MEDICINE BOW RIVER CROSSING. BARRY ALSO REPORTED MORE GASOLINE ODORS AT THE ELK MOUNTAIN HIGHWAY BLOCK VALVE. A STRONG WEST WIND WAS BLOWING AND IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT THE RELEASE HAD TO BE WEST OF THE VALVE. BY 18:00 THE MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT HAD BEGUN MOBILIZING A VAC TRUCK, SPILL TRAILERS, A DOZER AND SPL�S BACK HOE TO ELK MOUNTAIN. MORE PERSONNEL WERE ON HAND AND FOOT PATROLS AND A 4-WHEELER HEADED WEST FROM THE ELK MOUNTAIN HIGHWAY VALVE. WINDS WERE BLOWING @ 30 TO 40 MPH WITH SNOW FALLING. THE WEATHER IMPAIRED EFFORTS FOR OFF ROAD TRAVEL, SO TRAVERSING THE ROW WAS DIFFICULT. ALSO ATTEMPTS TO REACH ELK MOUNTAIN MANAGER, DAVID SPAUGH WAS CONTACTED AND HE ASSISTED BREAKING THROUGH THE DRIFTS AND HIS TRACTOR, ENABLING AREA OPERATOR JIM WILLCOX AND PAT WILSON TO REACH ELK MOUNTAIN STATION (21:21). PAT AND JIM IMMEDIATELY LOCATED THE LEAK APPROXIMATELY 100' UP STREAM OF ELK MOUNTAIN STATION. ONCE CONFIRMED, ALL RESPONDING PERSONNEL REPORTED TO ELK MT. STATION. AT THE TIME OF DISCOVERY NO FLOW WAS APPARENT OUT OF THE LEAK SITE. ASSESSMENT OF SPILL SIZE AND SPREAD BEGAN, WITH THE PONDS LOCATED TO THE NORTH OF THE STATION AS THE HIGHEST CONCERN. ONCE CONFIRMED, ALL RESPONDING PERSONNEL REPORTED TO ELK MT. STATION. AT THE TIME OF DISCOVERY NO FLOW WAS APPARENT OUT OF THE LEAK SITE. ASSESSMENT OF SPILL SIZE AND SPREAD BEGAN, WITH THE PONDS LOCATED TO THE NORTH OF THE STATION AS THE HIGHEST CONCERN. AN INCIDENT COMMAND POST AND STAGING AREA WAS ESTABLISHED AT THE ELK MOUNTAIN I-80 INTERCHANGE. THE SOUTHEAST WYOMING OIL SPILL ASSOCIATION (SWOONS) SPILL TRAILER FROM CASPER ARRIVED AT 21:00. BECAUSE OF THE INCLEMENT WEATHER AND THE CLOSURE OF I-80, THE DOZER DID NOT REACH THE SITE, HOWEVER HYLAND TRUCKING WAS ABLE TO GET SPL�S BACKHOE TO THE STAGING AREA BY 23:00. THE CONTROL CENTER CONTACTED THE HIGHWAY PATROL AND OBTAINED A WAIVER TO THE ROAD CLOSURE FOR RESPONDING PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT. A TRAILER VACUUM TRUCK FROM HYLAND ALSO MADE IT TO THE STAGING AREA. THE CONDITION OF THE ROAD FROM THE STAGING AREA INTO THE STATION DID NOT PERMIT EITHER OF THE VAC TRUCK�S ACCESS. CHRIS FLACK MADE NOTIFICATION TO THE NRC AND WYOMING DE AT 22:15 AND 22:26 RESPECTIVELY. MATERIAL FROM SPL�S SPILL TRAILER WAS BROUGHT FROM THE STAGING AREA TO THE LEAK SITE TO CONTAIN THE EXTENT OF THE SPILL. A GENERATOR AND PORTABLE LIGHTS WERE DEPLOYED. ABSORBENT BOOMS AND PADS WERE INSTALLED AT THE EDGE OF THE SPILL SITE. CONTAINMENT WAS ACHIEVED AND PERSONNEL LEFT THE SITE AT 01:00. 2-24-04 METALURIGICAL INVESTIGATION CONCLUDED THAT A DENT WITH GOUGE WAS THE CAUSE OF FAILURE.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE — PREVIOUS MECHANICAL DAMAGE.

PHMSA indexed costs: $401,000 reported total cost, $255,574.419 in 1984 dollars, $629,401.137 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.