COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

ON 2/1/16 AT APPROXIMATELY 07:35 LOCAL RIGHT-OF-WAY PERSONNEL WERE NOTIFIED OF A DIESEL ODOR AND SHEEN ON A CREEK DOWNSTREAM OF PELHAM STATION AND IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED THE CONTROL CENTER. AT APPROXIMATELY 07:38 THE CONTROL CENTER BEGAN THE SHUTDOWN OF LINE #2. AT APPROXIMATELY 08:18 LOCAL RECON DISCOVERED DEAD VEGETATION OVER LINE #2. LOCAL OPERATIONS MANAGER, DISTRICT ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGER AND DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS WERE NOTIFIED AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE WAS ACTIVATED. SINCE THERE WERE IMPACTS TO SURFACE WATERS, THE NRC, ADEM, COUNTY EMA AND LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENT WERE NOTIFIED. CONTAINMENT AND RECOVERY ACTIVITIES BY ONSITE PERSONNEL BEGAN. REPAIR TO THE PIPE WAS A TYPE B SLEEVE. PERMANENT REPAIR WAS COMPLETE 2/2/16 AT APPROXIMATELY 02:36. LINE 2 WAS RESTARTED AT APPROXIMATELY 03:33 ON 2/2/16. BASED ON THE FINDINGS AT THE INCIDENT SITE, IT WAS ESTIMATED THAT THE RELEASE BAGAN ON 1/30/2016. CAUSE OF RELEASE STILL BEING INVESTIGATED. BOOM ON PAVINE CREEK REMAINS IN PLACE UNTIL SITE ACTIVITIES ARE COMPLETE WITH WEEKLY INSPECTIONS BEING PERFORMED BY SWS ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES. AS FOR LIQUIDS, A TOTAL OF 105 GALLONS WAS COLLECTED FROM THE EXCAVATION, CREEK AND ABSORBENTS. THE MAJORITY OF PRODUCT CAME FROM THE EXCAVATION. WE COLLECTED 20,018 GALLONS OF WATER AND 105 GALLONS OF PRODUCT FOR TOTAL OF 20,123 GALLONS OF LIQUID. ALL LIQUIDS WERE PROPERLY DISPOSED OF AT ALLIED IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA. ALL ABSORBENTS WILL BE DISPOSED OF AT REPUBLIC SERVICES PINEVIEW LANDFILL. AS OF 2/10/2016, ALL OF THE CONTAMINATED SOIL HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE RELEASE SITE. A TOTAL OF 790 TONS OF CONTAMINATED SOIL WAS REMOVED AND PROPERLY DISPOSED OF AT REPUBLIC SERVICES' PINEVIEW LANDFILL IN DORA ALABAMA. USING ANALYTICAL RESULTS FOR DRO (AN AVERAGE OF 200 MG/KG) AND PERFORMING THE MASS BALANCE, THE ESTIMATED VOLUME IN THE SOIL IS APPROXIMATELY 44 GALLONS. FINAL VOLUME WILL BE CALCULATED ONCE REMAINING LAB REPORTS ARE AVAILABLE. UPDATE ON 6/10/16: THE FINAL SOIL VOLUME IS BASED ON WEIGHT TICKETS OF SOIL DISPOSAL FROM THE LANDFILL AND A REVIEW OF THE ANALYTICAL DATA. THE AVERAGE DRO RESULT WAS 75.9 MG/KG RESULTING IN A SOIL VOLUME TOTAL OF 17 GALLONS. ADDED TO THE VOLUME RECOVERED FROM THE EXCAVATION (105G) AND THE VOLUME ESTIMATED TO HAVE REACHED WATER (5G), THE FINAL VOLUME CALCULATED FOR THE RELEASE IS 127 GALLONS. ANY FURTHER ACTION ON THE SITE WILL BE CONDUCTED UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF ADEM. UPDATE APRIL 2020: DURING THE TIME PERIOD THAT THIS RELEASE OCCURRED, COLONIAL HAD EXPERIENCED SEVERAL OTHER RELEASES THAT HAD THE SAME FAILURE MODE. THE IA THAT FOLLOWED THIS INCIDENT WAS CONSOLIDATED WITH THE OTHER RECENT FATIGUE CRACK IN DENT FAILURES, AND WAS ADDRESSED AS ONE COMPREHENSIVE, SYSTEM-WIDE ASSESSMENT OF THE FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF FATIGUE CRACKS IN DENTS. THIS APPROACH WAS TAKEN BY COLONIAL TO ENSURE THAT THE LESSONS LEARNED FROM ALL OF THE INCIDENTS COULD BE FACTORED INTO THE CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN AND DRIVE IMPROVEMENTS SYSTEM-WIDE. THE IA INCLUDED METALLURGICAL ANALYSES OF THREE OF THE DENT FAILURES, ALL CONFIRMING THAT PRESSURE CYCLING OF THE DENT RESULTED IN THROUGH WALL FATIGUE CRACKS. THE PRESENCE OF THE DENT CONCENTRATED STRESSES ON THE PIPELINE, CREATING A FATIGUE CRACK TO FORM AND GROW THROUGH-WALL OVER TIME DUE TO PRESSURE CYCLING.