COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION CORP — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2002-08-05

Gas transmission and gathering incident in CHARLESTON, PUTNAM County, WV. Reported cause: 3. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, $2,168,040 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: 20020069.

Operator ID: 2616.

Reported incident date: 8/5/2002.

Cause detail: EARTH MOVEMENT

Cause detail: AT APPROXIMATELY 11:15 P.M. ON AUGUST 5, 2002, COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION CORPORATION'S (COLUMBIA) PIPELINE SM-80 LOOP (30") RUPTURED AND IGNITED.THE PIPELINE WAS OPERATING AT 748 PSIG AT THE TIME OF THE RUPTURE.COLUMBIA'S GAS CONTROL IMMEDIATELY WAS AWARE OF THE RUPTURE DUE TO THE RAPID DROP IN PRESSURE AND COLUMBIA FIELD EMPLOYEES SAW THE FLAMES FROM A COMPRESOR STATION APPROXIMATELY ONE MILE AWAY. THE RUPTURE OCCURRED IN A RURAL AREA NEAR THE COMMUNITY OF LANHAM, WV IN PUTNAM COUNTY. NO DEATHS OR INJURIES RESULTED FROM THE INCIDENT.THE NEAREST RESIDENTIAL DWELLING WAS APPROXIMATELY 500 YARDS AWAY AND UNDAMAGED. COLUMBIA QUICKLY RESPONDED BY CLOSING VALVES ON EITHER SIDE OF THE RUPTURE TO STOP THE FLOW OF GAS TO THE DAMAGED PORTION OF PIPELINE. BY 12:45 A.M., THE LINE WAS ISOLATED AND THE FLAMES QUICKLY DIMINISHED. THE CAUSE OF THE RUPTURE IS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION, HOWEVER, PRELIMINARY INDICATIONS ARE THAT EXTERNAL STRESS, IN PARTICULAR THE WEIGHT OF A HILLSIDE SLIP, MAY HAVE LED TO THE RUPTURE. BASED ON THE PRELIMINARY FINDINGS, COLUMBIA AND THE US DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION'S OFFICE OF PIPELINE SAFETY HAVE JOINTLY DEVELOPED A PLAN OF ACTIONS COLUMBIA WILL TAKE TO SAFELY RESTORE SERVICE TO THE PIPELINE. THE PIPELINE REMAINS OUT OF SERVICE UNTIL THIS PLAN IS FULLY IMPLEMENTED. FINAL INVESTIGATION AND REPORTING INFORMATION WAS FILED WITH THE OPS EASTERN REGION OFFICE. ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS INDICATES THAT THIS FAILURE WAS DUE TO SLOPE INSTABILITY, WHICH CREATED HIGH AXIAL STRESSES AT THE FAILURE ORIGIN AND PRODUCED BUCKLING NEAR THE ORIGIN OF FAILURE.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE — EARTH MOVEMENT.

PHMSA indexed costs: $2,168,040 reported total cost, $1,593,427.399 in 1984 dollars, $3,214,922.721 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.