PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2011-09-09

Gas transmission and gathering incident in SALINAS, MONTEREY County, CA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 1500 NATURAL GAS released, $55,000 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: 20110374.

Operator ID: 15007.

Reported incident date: 9/9/2011 11:19.

Location detail: 19.15

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 SEPTEMBER 9, 2011 AT APPROXIMATELY 1119 HOURS A FARMER, MKM FARMS, RIPPING AN AGRICULTURE FIELD STRUCK LINE 103, A 12-INCH STEEL TRANSMISSION PIPELINE, AT MILE POINT 19.15 RESULTING IN A RELEASE OF GAS. PG&E WAS NOTIFIED AT 11:25, AND WAS ON SCENE AT 1156 HOURS. PG&E CLOSED MAINLINE VALVES AT 13:55 AND THE ISOLATED PIPELINE SECTION WAS DEPRESSURIZED AT 1633 HOURS. SERVICE WAS INTERRUPTED TO 39 CUSTOMERS AS A RESULT OF THIS DIG-IN. REPAIRS WERE COMPLETED AT 0300 HOURS ON 9/10/11 AND FINAL SERVICE RESTORATION WAS COMPLETED AT 1330 HOURS ON SEPTEMBER 10, 2011. THE FARMER DID NOT CALL USA BUT WAS AWARE OF THE LOCATION OF THE PIPELINE. PIPELINE MARKERS WERE VISIBLE AT THE SITE OF THE DIG-IN, AND THE FARMER HAD MADE A LINE IN THE FIELD FROM PIPELINE MARKER TO MARKER PRIOR TO THE START OF RIPPING THE FIELD. THERE WAS NO IGNITION, INJURIES OR FATALITIES AS A RESULT OF THIS INCIDENT. DAMAGES EXCEED $50,000 MAKING THIS INCIDENT REPORTABLE TO THE CPUC AND DOT.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

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

PHMSA indexed costs: $60,000 reported total cost, $32,181.263 in 1984 dollars, $79,252.546 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.