Vehicle Safety
Recalls Search 320,000+ NHTSA safety recalls Complaints 2.1M+ consumer safety complaints TSBs 4.7M technical service bulletins VIN Lookup Decode any vehicle VIN instantly OBD Codes 12,000+ diagnostic trouble codes Fuel Economy EPA MPG data for all vehicles Statistics Recall trends & safety analysis
Consumer Safety
Product Safety 9,700+ CPSC product recalls Food Safety 28,600+ FDA food recalls Pet Safety 1.3M FDA animal adverse events Drug Safety 17,500+ FDA drug recalls Device Safety 38,400+ FDA device recalls Workplace Safety 102,900+ OSHA injury reports
Infrastructure
Bridge Safety 624,000 bridge inspections Aviation Safety 30,000+ NTSB aviation events Dam Safety 92,600 dam safety records Water Safety 433,000+ public water systems Railroad Safety 438,000+ rail crossings Pipeline Safety 8,800+ pipeline incidents
Public Health
Nursing Homes 14,700 CMS rated facilities Environmental 80,000+ hazardous sites & releases

NORTHWEST PIPELINE LLC

gas_transmission Incident —

Incident Information

Report Date—
OperatorNORTHWEST PIPELINE LLC
Commodity—
Pipeline Typegas_transmission

Location

State
Coordinates41.82326, -110.78958

Cause

CauseEQUIPMENT FAILURE
Subcause—

Casualties

Fatalities0
Injuries0

Costs

Property Damage—
Lost Commodity—
Public/Private Damage—
Emergency Response—
Environmental Remediation—
Other Costs—

Location Map

Incident Narrative

ON NOVEMBER 9, 2022 OPERATIONS PERSONNEL ON SITE AT THE KEMMERER COMPRESSOR STATION HEARD WHAT APPEARED TO BE A COMPRESSOR RELIEF VALVE RELIEVING GAS. UPON FURTHER INVESTIGATION THE OPERATIONS TECHNICIAN DISCOVERED THE UNIT 1 PSV WAS RELIEVING. IN ORDER TO REMEDY THE SITUATION AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE, THE TECHNICIAN SHUT THE UNIT DOWN, ISOLATED IT FROM PRESSURE, AND BLEW IT DOWN. IT WAS NOTED BY THE TECHNICIAN AT THE TIME THAT THE RELIEF VALVE WOULD NOT RESEAT ITSELF AFTER DECREASING PRESSURE. IT WAS ALSO NOTED THAT THE RELIEF VALVE HAD OPENED UP PREMATURELY AT A PRESSURE OF AROUND 770PSI, WHERE THE SET PRESSURE ON THE RELIEF VALVE WAS 928 PSI. SINCE OPERATIONS DIDN'T KNOW EXACTLY WHEN THE RELIEF VALVE STARTED RELEASING GAS, THEY WORKED WITH TECH SERVICES AND GAS CONTROL TO ATTEMPT TO FIND ANY DATA SIGNIFYING WHEN THE RELEASE STARTED TO OCCUR. HMI TRENDS AND STATION CCTV CAMERAS WERE UTILIZED TO TRY AND DETERMINE WHEN THE UNIT STARTED TO RELIEVE, BUT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN DETERMINING THE EXACT TIME. AFTER REVIEWING THAT DATA THROUGHOUT THE DAY ON NOVEMBER 9TH AND NOT FINDING A DEFINITIVE ANSWER, IT WAS DECIDED TO CALCULATE A GAS LOSS ESTIMATION FROM THE MOMENT THE OPERATOR ARRIVED ON SITE AT 06:45 TO THE TIME THE UNIT WAS COMPLETELY ISOLATED AND GAS HAD STOPPED RELEASING AT 07:22. ONCE THIS TIMEFRAME WAS DECIDED, THE GAS LOSS CALCULATION WAS PROMPTLY RUN AND FOUND TO BE IN EXCESS OF THE 3MMSCF THRESHOLD. THAT GAS LOSS ESTIMATION WAS THEN COMMUNICATED TO THE SECURITY OPERATIONS CENTER AT WILLIAMS AND WAS IMMEDIATELY REPORTED TO THE NRC THAT AFTERNOON. OVER THE COURSE OF THE FOLLOWING WEEKS, OPERATIONS WORKED WITH GAS CONTROL, SCADA, AND TECH SERVICES TO INVESTIGATE WHY THE VALVE HAD OPENED AT A LOWER PRESSURE THAN DESIGNED. IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT THE PILOT ON THIS PSV FAILED DUE TO A HARMONIC FREQUENCY AT THE STATION. IN ORDER TO REMEDY THE SITUATION, OPERATIONS WORKED TO GET A NEW AND DIFFERENT PILOT INSTALLED ON THIS PSV THAT WOULDN'T BE SUSCEPTIBLE TO PREMATURE RELIEVING AS A RESULT OF HARMONICS. OPERATIONS SUCCESSFULLY INSTALLED THE NEW PILOT ON THE PSV AND RETURNED THE COMPRESSOR UNIT TO SERVICE ON 11/18/2022.

About This Pipeline Incident

Pipeline incident data is reported to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). All significant incidents involving fatalities, injuries, or property damage over $50,000 must be reported.

Browse All Incidents Pipeline Safety Stats Pipeline Safety Home
Back to All Incidents More Incidents in