COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

ON 1/28/16 AT APPROXIMATELY 07:10 AN OPERATOR PERFORMING A ROUTINE YARD CHECK DISCOVERED PRODUCT ON THE GROUND AROUND THE KEROSENE TRANSFER PUMP. AT THE TIME THE PUMP WAS NOT RUNNING; THE PUMP OPERATED FOR APPROXIMATELY 4 HOURS THE PREVIOUS DAY - 1/27/2016. THE OPERATOR IMMEDIATELY MADE INTERNAL NOTIFICATIONS TO BEGIN CONTAINMENT AND CLEANUP EFFORTS AND THE PUMP WAS ISOLATED. PRODUCT HAD REACHED THE UPPER FACILITY POND VIA THE FACILITY DRAINAGE SYSTEM. BOOM WAS DEPLOYED ON THE UPPER POND AND WITHIN THE RETENTION BASIN, SKIMMERS AND DIAPERS WERE DEPLOYED WITHIN THE RETENTION BASIN, AND A BERM WAS BUILT TO PREVENT FURTHER PRODUCT FROM REACHING THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM. AFTER CONSULTING WITH THE DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, THE NRC WAS NOTIFIED ON 1/28 AT 08:56 DUE TO ESTIMATED RESPONSE COSTS EXCEEDING $50,000. STATE AND LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCIES WERE INITIALLY NOTIFIED BETWEEN 09:27 (NC DENR) AND 09:48 (GUILFORD COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH) ON 1/28 WITH DETAILED DISCUSSIONS OCCURRING BETWEEN 10:49 (NC DENR) AND 11:31 (GUILFORD COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH). ON 1/29/16 AFFECTED SURFACE SOILS WERE REMOVED TO A SOIL CONTAINMENT AREA. 312 GALLONS OF FREE PRODUCT HAS BEEN COLLECTED IN APPROVED CONTAINERS AND TRANSFERRED INTO THE FACILITY SUMPS. AN ESTIMATED 250 TONS OF IMPACTED SOILS WERE EXCAVATED AND PLACED ON PLASTIC WITH CONTAINMENT. SOIL SAMPLES WERE COLLECTED FROM THE STOCKPILE AND SENT TO A LAB FOR ANALYSIS. BASED ON THE 250 TON EXCAVATION, THE TOTAL VOLUME OF PRODUCT RELEASED TO THE SOILS IS CALCULATED AT 150 GALLONS. THE IMPACTED SOILS WILL BE TRANSPORTED TO AN APPROVED DISPOSAL FACILITY FOR PROPER TREATMENT/DISPOSAL. FUTURE ADDITIONAL REMEDIATION ACTIVITIES ARE NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. TOTAL RELEASE VOLUME ESTIMATE IS 462 GALLONS. ON 2/4/16 THE PUMP WAS DISASSEMBLED AND A CRACKED CARBON SEAT WAS FOUND TO BE THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE CAUSE. INSPECTION OF THE SEAT DID NOT REVEAL ANY APPARENT EVIDENCE OF VIBRATION OR MISALIGNMENT ISSUES. GIVEN RECENT WEATHER AND PUMP DESIGN, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT WATER ENTERED THE CARBON SEAT INTERIOR AND FROZE, CAUSING THE SEAT TO CRACK. THE CARBON SEAT WAS REPLACED THE SAME DAY (PERMANENT REPAIR), WITH TESTING PLANNED PRIOR TO THE NEXT SCHEDULED DELIVERY. FUTURE CORRECTIVE ACTIONS WILL LIKELY INCLUDE: 1) SENDING THE CRACKED SEAL TO THE MANUFACTURER IN INQUIRE ABOUT CAUSE AND/OR ALTERNATE SEAL TYPES, 2) RECORDING OF PUMP VIBRATION, 3) PUMP MODIFICATIONS TO PREVENT WATER ENTRY INTO THE PUMP, AND 4) PUMP MODIFICATIONS TO INCREASE LEAK DETECTION CAPABILITY. 4/15/16 UPDATED TOTALS TO REFLECT FINAL LAB RESULTS OF CONTAMINATED SOILS.