# SPIRE ALABAMA INC. — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2018-01-06

- **operation:** document
- **citation:** PHMSA Report 20180024
- **title:** SPIRE ALABAMA INC. — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2018-01-06
- **source type:** incident
- **agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
- **status:** historical
- **official:** true
- **published on:** 2018-02-08
- **effective on:** 2018-01-06
- **summary:** Gas transmission and gathering incident in BIRMINGHAM, JEFFERSON County, AL. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 1090.725 NATURAL GAS released, $26,508 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. PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.
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**body:**

Gas transmission and gathering incident in BIRMINGHAM, JEFFERSON County, AL. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 1090.725 NATURAL GAS released, $26,508 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: 20180024.

Operator ID: 180.

Reported incident date: 1/6/2018 15:06.

Location detail: UNKNOWN

Cause detail: PREVIOUS DAMAGE DUE TO EXCAVATION ACTIVITY

Cause detail: MISCELLANEOUS ROOT CAUSES

Cause detail: PREVIOUS DAMAGE

Cause detail: ON JANUARY 6, 2018 AT 3:06 PM CT SPIRE CREWS RESPONDED TO A LEAK ON A 12" 500 PSIG MAOP TRANSMISSION PIPELINE AND DISCOVERED A 3" DIAGONAL CRACK IN THE BODY OF THE PIPE. SPIRE CREWS INSTALLED A STOPPER FITTING AND UTILIZED A CRITICAL VALVE TO ISOLATE AND REPLACE THE SECTION OF DAMAGED PIPE. THE REPAIR ON THE PIPELINE WAS COMPLETED ON JANUARY 10, 2018 AT 2:11 AM CT. THE DAMAGED SECTION OF PIPE WAS SENT TO AN INDEPENDENT TESTING LABORATORY AND THE EVALUATION CONFIRMED THAT THE LEAK WAS CAUSED BY PIPE FAILURE DUE TO PREVIOUS EXTERNAL MECHANICAL DAMAGE. IT IS UNKNOWN WHEN THIS DAMAGE OCCURRED .SPIRE DETERMINED THIS WAS A REPORTABLE INCIDENT ON JANUARY 8, 2018 AT APPROXIMATELY 9:40 AM CT BASED ON REPAIR COSTS EXCEEDING THE $50,000 THRESHOLD. NOTE: IN PART E, QUESTION 5, SPIRE WAS REQUIRED TO INPUT AN ANSWER FOR 5A, 5B AND 5C CONCERNING VALVES USED TO INITIALLY ISOLATE THE PIPELINE. WE DID NOT UTILIZE VALVES TO INITIALLY ISOLATE THE LINE UPON DISCOVERY OF THE LEAK. DURING THE REPAIR PROCESS, WE UTILIZED A CRITICAL VALVE AND A STOPPER FITTING TO ISOLATE AND REPAIR THE SECTION OF DAMAGED PIPE ONLY. NOTE: THIS REPORT WAS DUE TO PHMSA ON FEBRUARY 6, 2018 BUT SPIRE WAS UNABLE TO SUBMIT THIS REPORT ON THAT DATE DUE TO THE PHMSA PORTAL BEING DOWN. THE PHMSA PORTAL WAS BACK UP AT 10:46 AM ET ON FEBRUARY 8, 2018.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE — PREVIOUS DAMAGE DUE TO EXCAVATION.

PHMSA indexed costs: $76,700 reported total cost, $42,810.474 in 1984 dollars, $89,826.357 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.
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