COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

ON 8/4/2017, AT APPROXIMATELY 5:30 CST, AN OPERATOR SMELLED GASOLINE ODORS NEAR THE BATON ROUGE LINE 1 LAUNCH TRAP. OPERATORS INVESTIGATED THE SOURCE OF THE ODORS AND DISCOVERED PRODUCT WAS BEING RELEASED FROM THE TRAP DOOR. UPON DISCOVERY OF THE RELEASE, LINE 01 WAS SHUT DOWN AT APPROXIMATELY 5:33 CST. INTERNAL NOTIFICATIONS WERE MADE TO THE SITE OPERATIONS MANAGER AND AREA DISTRICT DIRECTOR AND ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIALIST. INITIAL OBSERVATIONS ESTIMATED THE VOLUME OF RELEASE TO BE 7 BBLS AND CONTAINED TO THE CONCRETE FOUNDATION AROUND THE AREA OF THE LAUNCH TRAP. AT APPROXIMATELY 5:45 CST, THE LEAK WAS STOPPED. THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED BY RELIEVING THE PRESSURE FROM THE TRAP DRAIN AND EVACUATION PUMP. RELEASED PRODUCT WAS CONTAINED ON-SITE WITHIN THE IMMEDIATE AREA OF THE TRAP. UPON VERIFYING PRESSURE WAS RELIEVED FROM THE TRAP, OPERATORS RESTARTED AND RESUMED OPERATIONS OF LINE 01 AT APPROXIMATELY 6:58 CST. THIS ALLOWED FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION AND RESPONSE OF THE ISOLATED LAUNCH TRAP AND SAFE SYSTEM REPAIRS. TECHNICIANS, PROJECT INSPECTORS AND CONTRACTORS WERE MOBILIZED AND ARRIVED ON-SITE AT APPROXIMATELY 7:50 CST, TO UNDERTAKE FURTHER RESPONSE ACTIONS. RESPONSE PERSONNEL SCENE INVESTIGATION NOTED THE FOLLOWING: THE TRAP DOOR O-RING WAS IN A STATE OF FAILURE, THUS, SERVING AS THE SOURCE OF THE RELEASE. THE RELEASE HAD BREACHED THE CONCRETE CONTAINMENT PAD AND DRAIN LOCATED BETWEEN THE STATION YARD AND OIL-WATER SEPARATOR, THUS, RESULTING IN SOIL CONTACT. AT 8:04 CST, RESPONSE PERSONNEL ESTIMATED THE RECOVERY ACTIONS WOULD MEET OR EXCEED FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS, THEREFORE, ON 08/04/2017, AT 8:59 CST, A NRC NOTIFICATION WAS MADE (REPORT NO. 1186237) FOLLOWED BY NOTIFICATION TO STATE OF LOUISIANA REGULATORY OFFICIALS. ADDITIONALLY, COURTESY NOTIFICATIONS WERE MADE TO AREA LEPC AND PHMSA. THE ESTIMATED RELEASE RECOVERY WAS UPDATED FROM 7 BBLS TO 17.3 BBLS. THE FINAL ESTIMATED VOLUME INDICATES THE RELEASE BEGAN AT APPROXIMATELY 1:35 CST HOURS ON 8/4/2017. RESPONSE PERSONNEL REMOVED AND INSPECTED THE FAULTY O-RING AND FOUND IT TO HAVE A LATERAL SPLIT. THIS O-RING HAD BEEN INSTALLED ON 2/27/2017. A NEW O-RING WAS INSTALLED AND COMPLETED AT APPROXIMATELY 8:10 CST. INTERNAL INCIDENT ANALYSIS (IA) WAS ASSIGNED TO FURTHER INVESTIGATE DETAILS ASSOCIATED TO THIS RELEASE. FINAL REPORT ' CONCLUSION OF THE INTERNAL IA NOTED THE FOLLOWING ' THE RELEASE WAS THE RESULT OF A FAULTY O-RING, HAVING A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR OF A MECHANICAL MISALIGNMENT OF TRAP DOOR AND TRAP FACINGS; LIKELY AS A RESULT OF EXCESSIVE WEAR AND TEAR. AS SUCH, THE INLET VALVE AND TRAP DOOR WERE REPLACED IN PART TO THE CLOSURE OF THE IA.