BUCKEYE PARTNERS, LP — Hazardous liquid — incident on 2012-12-10

Hazardous liquid incident in HILLSBOROUGH, SOMERSET County, NJ. Reported cause: OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 1 REFINED AND/OR PETROLEUM PRODUCT (NON-HVL) WHICH IS A LIQUID AT AMBIENT CONDITIONS released, $65,735 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: 20130004.

Operator ID: 1845.

Reported incident date: 12/10/2012 11:00.

Location detail: 138450

Cause detail: ELECTRICAL ARCING FROM OTHER EQUIPMENT OR FACILITY

Cause detail: AT APPROXIMATELY 11:00 AM ON 12/10/12, BUCKEYE WAS INFORMED GASOLINE WAS FOUND IN A SEWER THAT RUNS PERPENDICULAR TO THE 620 LINE IN HILLSBOROUGH, NJ. THE 603 AND 620 LINES WERE SHUT DOWN IN A SAFE AND CONTROLLED MANNER. WHILE INVESTIGATING THE AREA, HIGH LEVELS OF VOCS WERE MEASURED AT THE CASING VENT AT THE ROUTE 206 CROSSING. EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROCEDURES WERE INITIATED AND ALL PROPER NOTIFICATIONS WERE MADE. INITIAL INVESTIGATION CONCLUDED THE 603 LINE WAS NOT INVOLVED, AND SUBSEQUENTLY RESTARTED. ON 12/15/12, A PINHOLE WAS FOUND ON THE 620 LINE INSIDE THE CASING. THE PINHOLE WAS NEAR THE 12:00 POSITION. A BOLT-ON SLEEVE WAS INSTALLED TO STOP THE RELEASE OF PRODUCT. A PERMANENT REPAIR WILL BE PERFORMED IN JANUARY 2013. THE DAMAGED PIPE WILL BE REMOVED AND SENT FOR METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS. REMEDIATION IS ONGOING. UPDATE JUNE 20, 2013 - ROOT CAUSE METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS FINAL REPORT OF JUNE 6, 2013 CONCLUDED THAT THE RELEASE WAS CAUSED BY A HIGH CURRENT ARC DISCHARGING ENERGY FROM THE PIPE WALL TO THE GROUND. ATTRIBUTED SOURCE WAS FROM NEARBY POWER LINES.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: OTHER OUTSIDE FORCE DAMAGE — ELECTRICAL ARCING.

PHMSA indexed costs: $113,318 reported total cost, $59,684.591 in 1984 dollars, $146,984.778 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.