COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

ON MAY 27, 2015 AT 13:00, A COLONIAL EMPLOYEE AND A CONTRACT ROW INSPECTOR DISCOVERED PRODUCT LEAKING FROM THE STATION 2 DISCHARGE VALVE. INTERNAL NOTIFICATIONS WERE MADE AND LINE 2 WAS SHUT DOWN FROM HEBERT STATION TO BATON ROUGE JUNCTION. THE SOURCE WAS IDENTIFIED AS A FAILED PACKING ON THE DISCHARGE VALVE. ALL RELEASED PRODUCT WAS CONTAINED ON COMPANY PROPERTY IN THE IMMEDIATE AREA, FLOATING ON RAINWATER WHICH HAD COLLECTED IN THE STATION YARD. PRODUCT WAS RECOVERED USING ABSORBENTS AND THE STATION OIL WATER SEPARATOR. CLEANUP AND VALVE REPAIRS WERE COMPLETED AND THE LINE 2 SEGMENT FROM HEBERT TO BATON ROUGE WAS RESTARTED AT 18:20. CHURCH POINT STATION LINE 2 WAS RESTARTED AT 18:55. DUE TO THE PROXIMITY TO WHERE THE PRODUCT WAS INITIALLY DISCOVERED IT WAS LATER DETERMINED THAT THE DISCHARGE VALVE WAS THE MOST PROBABLE SOURCE OF A SIMILAR RELEASE THAT OCCURRED ON MARCH 9TH 2015 WHERE THE LEAK SOURCE WAS NEVER IDENTIFIED. DETAILS OF THE 9 MARCH 2015 RELEASE ARE AS FOLLOWS: AT 12:00 ON MARCH 9, 2015, A COLONIAL EMPLOYEE OBSERVED DIESEL FUEL FLOATING ON TOP OF PONDED RAINWATER AT CHURCH POINT BOOSTER STATION NEAR THE LINE 2 STATION DISCHARGE CHECK VALVE AND CONTROL VALVE. THERE HAD BEEN HEAVY RAINFALL IN THE AREA, AND THERE WERE POOLS OF STANDING WATER THROUGHOUT THE STATION YARD. INTERNAL NOTIFICATIONS WERE MADE AND THE LINE 2 STATION LOOP WAS ISOLATED FROM MAINLINE OPERATIONS. A CREW ARRIVED AND EXCAVATED THE LINE 2 DISCHARGE CHECK VALVE AND PERFORMED OTHER EXPLORATORY EXCAVATIONS WITHIN THE AREA. NO ACTIVE LEAK SOURCE WAS IMMEDIATELY IDENTIFIED. CONTINUOUS MONITORING WAS ESTABLISHED AND THE STATION WAS RETURNED TO SERVICE AT 18:50. THE STATION WAS MONITORED THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT WITH NO ADDITIONAL PRODUCT SIGHTED. THE FOLLOWING MORNING, A CREW USED PORTABLE PUMPS TO MOVE STANDING WATER FROM THE STATION YARD TO THE STATION OIL WATER SEPARATOR AND THEN ON TO A FACILITY CONVEYANCE DITCH WHICH LEADS TO THE STATION RETENTION POND. THE SOURCE OF THE LEAK WAS NEVER POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED. HOWEVER, A SMALL PRODUCT SHEEN WAS OBSERVED ON A PORTION OF THE RETENTION POND. AS A RESULT, AN NRC NOTIFICATION WAS MADE ON MARCH 10TH, 2015 AT 19:02 (REPORT NUMBER 1110222). NOTIFICATIONS WERE ALSO MADE TO THE LOUISIANA DEQ-SPOC AND THE ACADIA PARISH LEPC AND A COURTESY CALL WAS MADE TO PHMSA. ALL PRODUCT WAS CONTAINED ON COMPANY PROPERTY AND APPROXIMATELY 10 GALLONS OF DIESEL FUEL WAS RECOVERED. CHURCH POINT BOOSTER STATION WAS STAFFED CONTINUOUSLY THROUGH THE AFTERNOON OF 3/12/15 AND INSPECTED DAILY THROUGH 3/20/15. NO ADDITIONAL PRODUCT WAS FOUND AND THE LEAK SOURCE WAS NEVER IDENTIFIED. BASED ON GUIDANCE FROM A PHMSA INSPECTOR, AN ACCIDENT REPORT WAS NOT SUBMITTED TO PHMSA SINCE THE LEAK SOURCE COULD NOT BE POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED.