COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

hazardous_liquid Incident —

Incident Information

Report Date
OperatorCOLONIAL PIPELINE CO
Commodity—
Pipeline Typehazardous_liquid

Location

State
Coordinates40.15365, -74.65860

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 4/4/23 DURING A ROUTINE STATION CHECK, AN AREA OPERATOR OBSERVED MULTIPLE AREAS OF STAINED STONES WHERE RAINWATER RECENTLY RECEDED. SUBSEQUENT INVESTIGATION FOUND PETROLEUM-BASED PRODUCT ACCUMULATING IN POTHOLES WHERE THE RAINWATER RECEDED. LOCAL RESPONSE TEAM (TIER 1) WAS ACTIVATED, APPROPRIATE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL NOTIFICATIONS WERE MADE. FACILITY WAS STAFFED AS INVESTIGATION AND CLEANUP ACTIVITIES OCCURRED. THE INITIAL INVESTIGATION IDENTIFIED AN O-RING FAILURE. A COMPREHENSIVE INCIDENT ANALYSIS IS CURRENTLY BEING CONDUCTED. UPDATE 6/5/2023 AN INVESTIGATION DETERMINED THE RELEASE CAME FROM UNIT 1 CHECK VALVE LID DUE TO TWO (2) SPLIT O-RINGS FAILURES. THE FAILED O-RINGS WERE REPLACED WITH O-RINGS FROM THE VALVE MANUFACTURER. GENERAL CONDITION OF THE SEALS WAS INDICATIVE OF AGEING AND EMBRITTLEMENT ISSUES AND THE TIME TO FAILURE IS ON THE CORRECT SCALE OF NORMAL SEAL USABLE LIFE.

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.

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