KERN RIVER GAS TRANSMISSION CO (WGP) — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2003-04-03

Gas transmission and gathering incident in LINCOLN County, WY. Reported cause: 24. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, $123,000 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: 20030039.

Operator ID: 844.

Reported incident date: 4/3/2003.

Cause detail: MISCELLANEOUS

Cause detail: ON APRIL 3, 2003 AT 1710 HRS, AN INTENTIONAL EMERGENCY SHUT DOWN (ESD) WAS INITIATED AT THE MUDDY CREEK COMPRESSOR STATION "B" PLANT, DURRING THE COMMISSIONING PROCESS. THIS IS A NEW STATION, CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION, WHICH IS NOT YET IN SERVICE. THE ESD SYSTEM WAS USED TO BLOW DOWN THE STATION PIPING AT THE END OF THE WORK DAY. THE GAS DISCHARGING FROM THE VENT STACK IGNITED APPROXIMATLY 5 SECONDS INTO THE BLOW DOWN. THE FLAME WAS OBSERVED TO EMERGE FROM WITHIN THE STACK. THE GAS CONTINUED TO VENT AND BURN FOR APPROXIMATELY 15 MINUTES. THE WIND WAS VERY STRONG, AND KEPT THE GAS FIRE CLOSE TO THE GROUND, AND DIRECTED TO THE EAST. THE FIRE CONSUMED OR DAMAGED A MAN-LIFT CRANE, TWO TRASH DUMPSTERS, AND SOME VALVES AND OTHER MATERIALS STORED ON PALLETS. A SMALL GRASS AND BRUSH FIRE WAS ALSO STARTED. THE IGNITION IS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY STATIC ELECTRICITY. THE STATIC BUILD UP MIGHT HAVE BEEN PREVENTED IF THE GROUNDING OF THE BLOW DOWN STACK HAD BEEN COMPLETED.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: ALL OTHER CAUSES — MISCELLANEOUS.

PHMSA indexed costs: $123,000 reported total cost, $78,393.151 in 1984 dollars, $193,058.204 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.