KINDER MORGAN COCHIN LLC

Incident Narrative

ON SATURDAY, MAY 7, 2016, OUR HOUSTON CONTROL CENTER CONTROLLER RECEIVED A CALL FROM THE BARNES COUNTY DISPATCH AT 0745, INFORMING US THAT THEY HAD A FIRE CREW LOCATED AT THE EXTERIOR GATE OF OUR ROGERS PUMP STATION AND HAD VISUALLY CONFIRMED A PROPANE LEAK AT OUR FACILITY. THEY ALSO INDICATED THAT THEY WOULD WAIT FOR KM PERSONNEL TO ARRIVE TO GAIN ACCESS TO OUR FACILITY. KM PERSONNEL ARRIVED AT 08:13 HOURS AND CONFIRMED THAT WE HAD LEAK, HOWEVER THE PRODUCT WAS IDENTIFIED AS CONDENSATE WHICH WAS MISTING OUT FROM A THREADED UNION FITTING NEAR OUR PIG TRAP RECEIVER AND WAS NOT A PROPANE LEAK AS ORIGINALLY REPORTED. COINCIDENTLY WE DO HAVE A 1000 GALLON PROPANE STORAGE TANK LOCATED AT OUR ROGERS PUMP STATION THAT IS UTILIZED AS FUEL FOR OUR BACKUP GENERATOR. THE FITTING IS LOCATED ON THE VENT SYSTEM PIPING ASSOCIATED WITH OUR TWELVE INCH VALVE'S BODY BLEED SYSTEM AND AREA THERMAL RELIEF VALVE. THE LEAKING UNION WAS ISOLATED BY KM PERSONNEL BY CLOSING A TWO INCH QUARTER TURN VALVE. THE LEAKING FITTING WAS THEN TIGHTENED CORRECTLY. OUR INVESTIGATION DETERMINED THAT WE HAD A SIXTY TWO GALLON RELEASE OF CONDENSATE WITH LESS THAN ONE GALLON REACHING GROUND WATER. THE ROOT CAUSE FOR THE EVENT WAS THAT THE CONTRACTOR HIRED BY KINDER MORGAN TO CONDUCT PIG RECEIVER MODIFICATION WORK DID NOT THOROUGHLY TIGHTEN THE THREADED FITTING UPON COMPLETION OF THE WORK THE DAY BEFORE THE RELEASE EVENT. THE FITTING WAS ORIGINALLY TIGHTENED TO SOME LEVEL THAT WAS ABLE TO SUSTAIN INITIAL STARTUP SUCTION PRESSURES OF 125 PSIG AS KM AND CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL WERE PRESENT FOR ONE HOUR POST SYSTEM STARTUP WITH NO INDICATION OF ANY LEAKS. AN NRC NOTIFICATION WAS NOT ORIGINALLY REQUIRED FOR OUR SIXTY TWO GALLON RELEASE. KINDER MORGAN DECIDED TO FILE AN NRC REPORT ON 5/26/2016, AFTER THE NORTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH ASKED KINDER MORGAN AND ITS REMEDIATION CONTRACTOR TO INSTALL SOME MONITORING WELLS WHICH KINDER MORGAN FORECASTED THE ADDITIONAL COSTS WOULD EVENTUALLY CAUSE OUR EVENT EXPENDITURES TO EXCEED THE $50,000 NRC REPORTING CRITERIA. UPDATE: 10/25/2016. PHMSA-CE REGION REQUESTED TO REVISE PART C, ITEM 6 OF THIS REPORT FROM ""LEAK/OTHER/INADEQUATE INSTALLATION"" TO ""LEAK/CONNECTION FAILURE"". A FINAL REPORT IS STILL PENDING FINAL CLEAN UP COSTS. UPDATE: 2/16/2017. THE REMEDIATION OF THE RELEASE AND ASSOCIATED TESTING HAS REACHED $260,000. FINAL CLEANUP COSTS ARE DEPENDENT ON THE OUTCOME OF THE NEXT SET OF SOIL SAMPLING ANALYSIS. UPDATE: 8/10/2017. THE REMEDIATION OF THE RELEASE AND ASSOCIATED TESTING HAS REACHED $280,000. THIS IS BELIEVED TO BE THE FINAL CLEAN UP COSTS. UPDATE: 10/11/2017. AFTER FURTHER INVESTIGATION, KM HAS DETERMINED THAT THE CONTRACT EMPLOYEE WHO INCORRECTLY TIGHTENED THE SCREWED UNION FITTING WAS NOT QUALIFIED IN ACCORDANCE WITH KM'S OPERATOR QUALIFICATION PROGRAM TO PERFORM THIS TASK. ALTHOUGH THERE WERE OTHER PERSONNEL ON SITE THAT DID HAVE THE CORRECT OPERATOR QUALIFIED TASK TO PERFORM THE TASK IN QUESTION THEY WERE NOT INSTRUCTED TO ""DIRECT AND OBSERVE"" THIS SPECIFIC EMPLOYEE AS THE EMPLOYEE IN QUESTION WAS ORIGINALLY BELIEVED TO HAVE THE CORRECT KM OPERATOR QUALIFICATIONS. THEREFORE KM IS UPDATING THIS REPORT BY REVISING ITS RESPONSE FOR SECTION G7, 5.A, FROM ""YES, THEY WERE QUALIFIED FOR THE TASK(S)"" TO ""NO"".