SFPP, LP — Hazardous liquid — incident on 2024-07-13

Hazardous liquid incident in MERCED, MERCED County, CA. Reported cause: INCORRECT OPERATION. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 0.1 REFINED AND/OR PETROLEUM PRODUCT (NON-HVL) WHICH IS A LIQUID AT AMBIENT CONDITIONS released, $5,000 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: 20240176.

Operator ID: 18092.

Reported incident date: 7/13/2024 3:49.

Location detail: 4631+85

Cause detail: OTHER INCORRECT OPERATION

Cause detail: ON JULY 13TH AT APPROXIMATELY 3:45 AM PACIFIC TIME, HOUSTON CONTROL CENTER WAS NOTIFIED BY MERCED FIRE DEPARTMENT OF A FIRE ON LS-60 NEAR THE GERARD BLOCK VALVE AT GERARD AVENUE AND DOPPLER AVENUE IN MERCED, CA. LS-60 WAS SHUT DOWN, AND FRESNO AREA ROW PERSONNEL WERE DISPATCHED TO INVESTIGATE. MERCED FIRE DEPARTMENT RESPONDED TO THE FIRE, AND IT WAS EXTINGUISHED AT 4:14 AM. ROW PERSONNEL FOUND THE FIRE HAD BEEN LOCALIZED ON THE ABOVEGROUND PORTION OF THE BLOCK VALVE. THE FITTINGS TO THE VALVE'S PACKING PORTS HAD BEEN LOOSENED BY UNKNOWN PERSONS CAUSING GASOLINE TO DRIP FROM THE PORTS. THE GASOLINE DRIP STOPPED ONCE THE FITTINGS WERE TIGHTENED. THE ESTIMATED RELEASE AMOUNT IS 3.4 GALLONS. LOCAL POLICE AND TSA WERE NOTIFIED OF THE INCIDENT, AND THE INVESTIGATION IS ONGOING. 10/1/2024 UPDATE: KINDER MORGAN HAS COMPLETED ITS INTERNAL INVESTIGATION AND IS SUBMITTING THIS SUPPLEMENTAL FINAL. KINDER MORGAN'S INVESTIGATION CONFIRMED THE CAUSE OF THE RELEASE WAS UNAUTHORIZED OPERATION/TAMPERING OF THE LS-60 GERARD BLOCK VALVE. FOLLOWING THE INCIDENT, KINDER MORGAN RELOCATED THE PACKING PORTS BELOW GRADE. FENCING WITH BARB WIRE AS WELL AS A VALVE ENCLOSURE SECURED BY CHAINS AND LOCKS WERE INSTALLED TO PREVENT FURTHER TAMPERING.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: INCORRECT OPERATION — OTHER INCORRECT OPERATION.

PHMSA indexed costs: $30,008 reported total cost, $12,428.414 in 1984 dollars, $30,607.358 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.