PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2011-06-13

Gas transmission and gathering incident in RIO VISTA, SOLANO County, CA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 2000 NATURAL GAS released, $60,000 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: 20110239.

Operator ID: 15007.

Reported incident date: 6/13/2011 13:15.

Location detail: 3.9

Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY

Cause detail: NOTIFICATION ISSUE

Cause detail: NO NOTIFICATION MADE TO THE ONE-CALL CENTER/811

Cause detail: ON JUNE 13, 2011 AT 1315 HOURS A THIRD PARTY SUBCONTRACTOR, KNIFE RIVER CONSTRUCTION, STRUCK AND PUNCTURED GAS TRANSMISSION LINE 114 WHILE GRADING INTO A SLOPE ADJACENT TO TOLAND LANE. THE WORK BEING PERFORMED WAS PART OF A LARGER PROJECT TO CUT A DRAINAGE DITCH IN CONJUCTION WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF A WIND FARM. THE SUBCONTRACTOR DID NOT NOTIFY USA OR PG&E OF THE WORK BEING PERFORMED. THE SUB-CONTRACTOR DID NOT HAVE A VALID USA TICKET AND, AS SUCH, THE AREA WAS NOT PROPERLY DELINEATED OR MARKED AND LOCATED. THE CONTRACTOR CALLED 911 AND PG&E TO REPORT THE INCIDENT. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT WAS ON SCENE. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT 1.5 TO 2 MMCF OF GAS WAS RELEASED TO ATMOSPHERE AT MP 3.9 ON LINE 114. THERE WERE NO INJURIES OR FATALITIES AS A RESULT OF THIS INCIDENT. NO MAJOR MEDIA WAS PRESENT. THIS INCIDENT IS REPORTABLE DUE TO ESTIMATED DAMAGES EXCEEDING $50,000.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE — THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE.

PHMSA indexed costs: $70,000 reported total cost, $39,197.249 in 1984 dollars, $87,867.111 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.