EXPRESS HOLDINGS (USA), LLC

Incident Narrative

ON TUESDAY JANUARY 7, 2014 AT 11:00 A.M. MST, TWO SPECTRA EMPLOYEES WERE CONDUCTING A STATION WALKTHROUGH AT THE PLATTE PIPELINE GURLEY STATION WHEN THEY NOTICED OIL ON THE GROUND NEAR THE OUTGOING METERS. THE EMPLOYEES IDENTIFIED THAT OIL WAS SEEPING FROM THE BOLT HOLES ON THE METER HOUSING OF OUTGOING METER #6. THEY IMMEDIATELY VERIFIED THE METER WAS NOT IN USE AND THEREFORE, WAS ALREADY ISOLATED. THEY THEN TOOK ACTIONS TO CONTAIN THE OIL AND ENSURE IT DID NOT MIGRATE OUT OF THE METER MANIFOLD AREA. THE RELEASE IMPACTED AN AREA OF APPROXIMATELY 380 SQUARE FEET AT THE METER MANIFOLD LOCATION AND WAS CONTAINED COMPLETELY ON PLATTE PIPELINE PROPERTY AND NO SURFACE WATER WAS IMPACTED. NORMALLY THE METER INNER MECHANISM IS HELD IN PLACE WITH 4 BOLTS INSERTED THROUGH BOLT HOLES IN THE OUTER HOUSING. OUTGOING METER #6 WAS FOUND WITH 3 OF THE 4 BOLTS SHEARED OFF, WHICH RESULTED IN A RELEASE OF APPROXIMATELY 1.3 BARRELS OF CRUDE OIL IN THE METER MANIFOLD AREA. ALL FREE OIL WAS RECOVERED AND THE CONTAMINATED SOIL WAS EXCAVATED AND WILL BE PROPERLY DISPOSED OF OFF SITE. NEBRASKA DEQ WAS IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED OF THE SPILL SINCE IT MET STATE REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. IN ADDITION, THE CHEYENNE COUNTY LEPC WAS ALSO IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED AND MADE AWARE OF THE RELEASE. NO NOTIFICATION WAS MADE TO THE NRC SINCE THE RELEASE DID NOT MEET FEDERAL NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.