TEXAS EASTERN TRANSMISSION, LP (SPECTRA ENERGY PARTNERS, LP) — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2019-04-23

Gas transmission and gathering incident in KAESE MILL, GARRETT County, MD. Reported cause: INCORRECT OPERATION. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 3136 NATURAL GAS released, $0 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: 20190059.

Operator ID: 19235.

Reported incident date: 4/23/2019 13:04.

Location detail: 00.00

Cause detail: OTHER INCORRECT OPERATION

Cause detail: ORIGINAL REPORT: 48 HR NRC REPORT 1243693 AT APPROXIMATELY 1:04 PM EDT ON APRIL 23, 2019, AN EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN (ESD) SYSTEM WAS ACTIVATED AT ACCIDENT COMPRESSOR STATION ON THE TEXAS EASTERN TRANSMISSION (TETLP) SYSTEM IN GARRETT COUNTY, MARYLAND. TETLP COMPLETED THE REPORT TO THE NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER AT APPROXIMATELY 4:23 EDT ONCE IT WAS DETERMINED THE GAS LOSS VOLUME EXCEEDED 3 MMSCF. THE ESD OCCURRED WHILE RETURNING A SALT BATH HEATER (SBH) BACK TO NORMAL OPERATIONS. THIS PROCESS INVOLVES USING GAS FIRED AUXILIARY BURNERS TO HEAT THE SALT TO A LIQUID STATE AND USING THE MAIN BURNERS TO KEEP THE SALT AT A LIQUID STATE AFTER THE GAS FIRED AUXILIARY BURNER IS DEACTIVATED. THIS PROCESS WAS BEING PERFORMED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE MANUFACTURER'S RECOMMENDED PROCEDURE. THE ESD WAS TRIGGERED BY THE FIRE DETECTOR NEAR THE GAS FIRED AUXILIARY HEATER THAT DETECTED THE FLAME SIGNATURE. TETLP'S INVESTIGATION DETERMINED THAT BOTH THE AUXILIARY HEATER AND THE FIRE DETECTOR WERE FUNCTIONING AS DESIGNED AT THE TIME OF THE ESD. AS PART OF THE MITIGATIVE PLAN, THE TEMPERATURE OF THE GAS POWERED AUXILIARY BURNER WAS LOWERED DURING STARTUP. SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT 10/14/19: CAUSE HAS BEEN UPDATED TO INCORRECT OPERATION.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: INCORRECT OPERATION — OTHER INCORRECT OPERATION.

PHMSA indexed costs: $8,374 reported total cost, $8,681.706 in 1984 dollars, $10,659.816 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.