COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION CORP — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2003-02-19

Gas transmission and gathering incident in HENDERSON, MASON County, WV. Reported cause: 11. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, $475,000 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: 20030024.

Operator ID: 2616.

Reported incident date: 2/19/2003.

Cause detail: CAR, TRUCK OR OTHER VEHICLE NOT RELATED TO EXCAVATION ACTIVITY

Cause detail: AT APPROXIMATELY 1:30 P.M. ON FEBRUARY 19, 2003, COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION CORPORATION'S (COLUMBIA) PIPELINE SM-90 (8") WAS DISCOVERED TO BE RELEASING GAS INTO THE KANAWHA RIVER. THE GAS RELEASE WAS DISCOVERED BY A RIVER BOAT EMPLOYEE. HE WAS TRAVELING IN A TUG-BOAT THAT WAS APPROACHING SEVERAL NEAR-BY, LOADED COAL BARGES PARKED NEAR AND OVER THE SM-90 PIPELINE. DURING THIS APPROACH, HE NOTICED THE WATER "BOILING", AS WELL AS COLUMBIA'S RIVER CROSSING SIGN ON THE ADJANCENT RIVER BANK. HE THEN BACKED THE TUG UP AND NOTIFIED COLUMBIA. THE PIPELINE WAS OPERATING AT 125 PSIG AT THE TIME OF THE RUPTURE. THE RUPTURE OCCURRED APPROXIMATELY 25 FEET INTO THE KANAWHA RIVER BETWEEN THE CITY OF POINT PLEASANT, WV AND THE COMMUNITY OF HENDERSON, WEST VIRGINIA, BOTH IN MASON COUNTY. SM-90 CROSSES THE KANAWHA RIVER AT THE 1.1 MILE MARK, DECENDING. NO DEATHS OR INJURIES RESULTED FROM THE INCIDENT. A COLUMBIA FIELD EMPLOYEE WAS WORKING AT A NEAR-BY PIPELINE FACILITY WHEN HE NOTICED THE PRESSURE DROP AND ACTED PROMPTLY TO ISOLATE THE RUPTURED PIPELINE SECTION. THE RIVER BOAT COMPANY NOTIFIED THE U.S. COAST GUARD, WHO CLOSED THE RIVER TO BOAT-TRAVEL FROM THE ZERO MILE MARKER TO THE THREE MILE MARKER. THEY ALSO ISSUED A "PROCEED WITH CAUTION" ORDER FOR THE OHIO RIVER. BY 3:15 P.M., THE LINE WAS ISOLATED AND THE RIVER WAS RE-OPENED FOR TRAVEL. THE CAUSE OF THE RUPTURE IS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION AND IS STILL UNKNOWN. COLUMBIA CUT AND CAPPED SM-90 NEAR THE RIVER CROSSING ON ONE SIDE SEVERAL DAYS AFTER THE INCIDENT. THE OPPOSITE SIDE IS ISOLATED BY A VALVE, WHICH IS CHAINED AND LOCKED. THE PIPELINE WILL REMAIN OUT OF SERVICE UNTIL ARRANGEMENT ARE MADE TO INVESTIGATE THE CAUSE OF THE INCIDENT AND REPAIR OR REPLACE THE DAMAGED PIPELINE SECTION.6-14-04 FAILURE ANALYSIS COLUMBIA UTILIZED THE SERVICES OF CROFTON DIVING CORPORATION (CROFTON) TO PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE DURING THE PIPELINE RUPTURE INVESTIGATION. ON APRIL 29, 2003, CROFTON CONDUCTED AND UNDERWATER INVESTIGATION. IN THEIR MAY 6, 2003 UNDERWATER ASSESSMENT REPORT, CROFTON RECORDED THEIR OBSERVATIONS OF THE PIPELINE AND RIVER BOTTOM CONDITION. (SEE ATTACHMENTS A, B, AND C FROM THIS REPORT). THEY FOUND THE PIPELINE TO BE EXPOSED FROM 2.5' TO 24.5' FROM THE EDGE OF WATER (22'IN TOTAL LENGTH). IN ADDITION, THE PIPELINE HAD BEEN COMPLETELY SERVERED AND HAD SUFFERED OTHER EXTENSIVE DAMAGE. THEY NOTED THE TOP OF THE PIPE HAD BEEN DISTORTED OR FLATTENED TO VARIED DEGREES WITH THE MAXIMUM DEPTH OF DEPRESSION APPROXIMATELY 4". THEY ALSO REPORTED NUMEROUS FRESH SCRAPE MARKS TO THE PIPELINE AND IT'S COATING (COAL TAR) IN THIS SECTION INDICATING RECENT BARGE-RELATED DAMAGE DUE TO THEIR BARGE GROUNDING ACTIVITIES. THE RIVER BOTTOM TOPOGRAPHY HAD REPORTEDLY BEEN ALTERED DUE TO OUTSIDE FORCES RESULTING IN THE 22' OF EXPOSED PIPELINE. THIS SECTION WAS NOT EXPOSED ON OCTOBER 8, 2202, WHEN CROFTON PERFORMED THEIR ROUTINELY SCHEDULED PIPELINE RIVER CROSSING SURVEY. BASED ON THE EVIDENCE AND SUPPORTED BY CROFTON'S UNDERWATER CONDITION ASSESSMENT, COLUMBIA HAS CONCLUDED THE CAUSE OF INCIDENT WAS OBIVIOUSLY A STRIKE FROM A RIVER BARGE THAT HAD BEEN GROUNDED INTO RIVER BOTTOM SLOPE AND OUR PIPELINE. FURTHERMORE, SCOURING OF THE RIVER BOTTOM HAD OCCURRED EITHER PRIOR TO OR DURING THE MOST RECENT GROUNDING EVENT. THE PIPELINE WAS REPAIRED BY REPLACING THE DAMAGED PIPE SECTION, BACKFILLING WITH SELECT MATERIAL AND THEN PLACING A FLEXIBLE CONCRETE ARTICULATING MAT OVER THE REPAIR AREA. THIS MAT IS INTENDED PROTECT THE PIPELINE FORM FUTURE UNDERMINING AND DAMAGE. (SEE ATTACHMENT D AND E FROM THIS REPORT) COLUMBIA HAS CONTACTED THE US COAST GUARD ABOUT THE UNSAFE GROUNDING PRACTICES THAT HAVE OCCURRED AT OUR PIPELINE CROSSING LOCATION. COLUMBIA IS ALSO IN THE PROCESS OF CONTACTING THE TUGBOAT COMPANY(S) TO INFORM THEM OF THE DANGERS AND LIABILITIES OF THESE GROUNDING ACTIVITIES IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO GAS PIPELINE FACILITIES.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE — VEHICLE NOT ENGAGED IN EXCAVATION.

PHMSA indexed costs: $475,000 reported total cost, $303,220.709 in 1984 dollars, $736,106.877 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.