COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

hazardous_liquid Incident —

Incident Information

Report Date
OperatorCOLONIAL PIPELINE CO
Commodity—
Pipeline Typehazardous_liquid

Location

State
Coordinates29.71902, -95.17920

Cause

CauseINCORRECT OPERATION
Subcause—

Casualties

Fatalities0
Injuries0

Costs

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

Location Map

Incident Narrative

WHILE SAMPLING PRODUCT ON BOTH LINES 1 AND 2, AN OPERATOR TURNED ON BOTH HYDROMETER WELLS TO LOOK AT THE PRODUCT HAZE. AFTER OBTAINING THE SAMPLES THE LINE 2 HYDROMETER WAS INADVERTENTLY LEFT ON. SOME TIME AFTER THE OPERATOR LEFT THE SAMPLE HOUSE THE LINE 2 SINK DRAIN STARTED TO BACK UP, OVERFLOWING THE SINK AND SPILLING OUT ONTO THE FLOOR. A TECHNICIAN GOING TO THE SAMPLE HOUSE TO PERFORM UNRELATED WORK SMELLED PRODUCT AND UPON OPENING THE DOOR NOTICED ULSD ON THE FLOOR AND IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED THE HOUSTON CONTROL ROOM. WHILE STARTING TO CLEAN UP THE PRODUCT IT WAS DISCOVERED A SMALL AMOUNT OF ULSD HAD GOTTEN THROUGH THE SEAL BETWEEN THE WALL AND FLOOR AND DRIPPED ON THE ROCKS. UPON FURTHER INVESTIGATION IT WAS DETERMINED THAT 26 GALLONS OF PRODUCT WAS RELEASED.

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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