COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

ON 10/11/16, AT APPROXIMATELY 00:53, BATON ROUGE CONTROL ROOM OPERATORS RECEIVED A SPILL CHECK ALARM ON TANK 1486, WHILE DELIVERING DIESEL FUEL FROM LINE 61. B OPERATORS IMMEDIATELY LEFT THE CONTROL ROOM IN RESPONSE TO THE ALARM AND, AT APPROXIMATELY 01:00, ARRIVED AT THE TANK DIKE AREA AND OBSERVED PRODUCT FLOWING FROM BOTH ROOF DRAINS. THEY IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED THE A OPERATOR WHO SWITCHED OUT OF THE TANK AT APPROXIMATELY 01:01. THE B OPERATORS ALSO CLOSED BOTH ROOF DRAIN ISOLATION VALVES, ISOLATED THE DIKE, AND COMPLETED INITIAL DEFENSIVE CONTAINMENT EFFORTS BY PLACING BOOM AND CONSTRUCTING A BERM IN THE DIKE AREA. ALL SPILLED PRODUCT WAS CONTAINED IN THE DIKE AREA AND DID NOT REACH THE DIKE DRAIN LINE AND/OR RETENTION POND. AFTER SWITCHING TANKS, THE OPERATOR A MADE REQUIRED INTERNAL NOTIFICATIONS. PROJECTS, CONTRACTORS AND OSRO SPECIALISTS RESPONDED AT APPROXIMATELY 02:00 AND BEGAN INITIAL CLEANUP ACTIVITIES. BECAUSE THE OPERATOR WAS ABLE TO SWITCH TO ANOTHER TANK AND BECAUSE THE SPILLED PRODUCT WAS ISOLATED WITHIN THE TANK DIKE, THE FACILITY WAS NOT SHUT-DOWN. THE STATE OF LA (SPOC) WAS NOTIFIED AT 11:30 AND, THE NRC WAS NOTIFIED ON AT 12:53 WHEN THE DETERMINATION WAS MADE THAT RESPONSE COSTS WOULD LIKELY EXCEED $50K. INITIAL INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE SOURCE TO BE A 6-INCH AUXILIARY ROOF HATCH LOCATED NEAR THE CENTER OF THE TANK. ONCE DISCOVERED, OPERATORS BEGAN TRANSFERRING PRODUCT FROM THE TANK IN ORDER TO PERFORM INITIAL REPAIRS. ONCE ABLE TO ACCESS THE HATCH, PROJECT INSPECTORS FOUND THE WING-NUT USED TO SECURE THE HATCH WAS NOT FULLY TIGHTENED. CONTRACTORS HAD REPLACED THE GASKET AT THIS HATCH THE WEEK PRIOR. INSPECTORS AND CONTRACTORS INSTALLED A NEW GASKET AND FULLY TIGHTENED THE WING-NUT (INITIAL AND FINAL REPAIRS) AT APPROXIMATELY 17:50 ON 10/11/16. FINAL CLEANUP ACTIVITIES ARE IN-PROGRESS (REMOVAL OF CONTAMINATED SOIL). DURING THE RESPONSE, APPROXIMATELY 2 BARRELS OF FREE-STANDING PRODUCT WERE RECOVERED FROM WITHIN THE DIKE; AND IMPACTED SOIL CONTAINED AN ADDITIONAL ESTIMATED 6 BARRELS OF PRODUCT. DURING THE EVENT, WHILE THE TANK ROOF WAS BEING LANDED, RESPONDERS CONNECTED VACUUM TRUCKS TO BOTH ROOF DRAINS AND COLLECTED A TOTAL OF 337 BARRELS OF PRODUCT FROM ATOP THE ROOF THROUGH THE ROOF DRAIN SYSTEM. THIS AMOUNT WAS NOT RELEASED FROM THE PIPELINE SYSTEM AND IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE ""RELEASED VOLUME"" TOTAL. UPDATE: FINAL CLEANUP ACTIVITIES ARE COMPLETE.