COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

ON THURSDAY, 2/18/21, AT APPROXIMATELY 12:06 CST, OPERATIONS PERSONNEL WERE IN MANIFOLD 3 AT BATON ROUGE EXECUTING A TANK-TO-TANK TRANSFER WHEN THEY DETECTED GASOLINE ODORS. PERSONNEL BEGAN INVESTIGATING THE SOURCE OF THE ODOR TO FIND PRODUCT IN A NEARBY EXCAVATION HAVING A 36"" PIPELINE EXPOSED. THIS EXCAVATION WAS ASSOCIATED TO MAINTENANCE INSPECTION ACTIVITIES. PERSONNEL BEGAN TROUBLESHOOTING THE MANIFOLD AND DISCOVERED A 3/8"" TUBING CONNECTION ON A THERMAL RELIEF LINE WAS SEPARATED AT A TEE COMPRESSION FITTING AND WAS RELEASING PRODUCT (GASOLINE). (NOTE: THIS TUBING CONNECTION RELEASE WAS UNRELATED TO THE NEARBY EXCAVATION MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES). FURTHER OBSERVATIONS FOUND THAT PRODUCT WAS ENTERING THE EXCAVATION NEAR THE 36"" PIPELINE. MITIGATIVE ACTIONS WERE TAKEN TO INCLUDE RELIEF OF PRESSURE FROM THE TUBING, THUS, STOPPING THE RELEASE AND FACILITATING SAFE REPAIR CONDITIONS. ADDITIONALLY, THE 36"" PIPELINE SEGMENT (OUTGOING GAS) WAS SHUTDOWN, DRAINED AND ISOLATED ' RESIDUAL PRODUCT CONTINUED TO ENTER THE EXCAVATION. AT APPROXIMATELY 16:00 CST, EQUIPMENT AND ADDITIONAL CREWS ARRIVED AT THE SITE AND REMOVAL OF ALL FREESTANDING PRODUCT/WATER FROM THE EXCAVATION WAS COMPLETE AT 17:30 CST. ONCE THE EXCAVATION WAS SAFELY CLEARED, THE 36"" PIPELINE WAS INSPECTED, REFILLED, PRESSURED-UP AND WAS NOT FOUND TO RELEASING PRODUCT, THUS, RENDERING THE TUBING THE ONLY SOURCE. FROM 18:00 - 22:00 CST, WATER REFILLED WITHIN THE EXCAVATION AND APPROXIMATELY 1/4"" SHEEN OF ADDITIONAL RESIDUAL PRODUCT SURFACED. FROM 2/18/21; 05:00 - 2/19/21; 05:00 CST, ONSITE PERSONNEL VISUALLY MONITORED CONDITIONS WITHIN THE EXCAVATION AND NOTED NO FURTHER COLLECTION OF PRODUCT OR SHEEN. ON 02/19/21 CST, THE OBSERVED RESIDUAL PRODUCT WAS REMOVED. ALL RELEASED PRODUCT WAS CONTAINED ON CPC PROPERTY. APPROXIMATELY 70 GALLONS OF FREE STANDING PRODUCT WAS RECOVERED. THE LA. STATE POLICE (SPOC) AND LOCAL LEPC WERE NOTIFIED ON 2/18/21 CST. ON 2/19/21, AT 14:00 CST, IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT RESPONSE COSTS WERE LIKELY TO EXCEED $50,000. AN NRC NOTIFICATION WAS MADE ON 02/19/21 AT APPROXIMATELY 14:27 CST.