ENBRIDGE PIPELINES (NORTH DAKOTA) LLC

Incident Narrative

ON SATURDAY (11/02/13), TWO ENBRIDGE EMPLOYEES WERE WORKING ON VALVE MAINTENANCE, WITH A FOCUS ON DRAINING WATER BEFORE FREEZE-UP. OPERATORS WERE WORKING ON THE SUCTION MANIFOLD OF THE BERTHOLD CLASSIC NEAR MV311. ONE OF THE OPERATORS ADMITTEDLY FORGOT TO CLOSE A BODY BLEED VALVE, WHICH WAS UTILIZED TO RELIVE PRESSURE AND SPEED UP THE DRAINING PROCESS. OPERATORS STATED THEY FINISHED THIS VALVE MAINTENANCE AT APPROXIMATELY 1:00 P.M. ON SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2ND. ON SUNDAY (11/03/13), A CONTRACT SITE INSPECTOR NOTICED A PETROLEUM ODOR COMING FROM THE EAST SIDE OF THE TERMINAL, HE WENT OVER TO INSPECT AND FOUND OIL HAD SPRAYED AND LEAKED ON TO THE GROUND. HE IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED THE AREA SUPERVISOR. UPON RECEIVING NOTIFICATION OF THE OCCURRENCE, THE AREA SUPERVISOR NOTIFIED THE ESTEVAN CONTROL CENTER TO SHUT DOWN THE LINE. HE THEN NOTIFIED THE SR. MANAGER OF OPERATIONS. OPERATOR WHO LEFT VALVE OPEN WAS SENT FOR POST-ACCIDENT DRUG AND ALCOHOL TESTING. PROTOCOL FOR NOTIFICATIONS, FOR ALL INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS, WAS COMPLETED WITHIN PRESCRIBED REQUIREMENTS. CLEANUP OF SURFACE OIL AND CONTAMINATED SOIL VIA HYDRO EXCAVATING WAS STARTED AND COMPLETED. THE EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROCESS OPERATED UNDER THE ICS AND WAS DOCUMENTED WITH AN ICS 201 PACKET. CONTRACTORS WERE UTILITIZED TO ASSIST ENBRIDGE RESPONDERS WITH PRODUCT CLEAN UP AND REPAIR. SITE CLEANUP AND RESPONSE COMMENCED AT APPROXIMATELY 4:00 P.M. ON SUNDAY (11/03/13). A TOTAL AMOUNT RELEASED AND RECOVERED WAS 9 BARRELS. APPROXIMATELY 150 CUBIC YARDS OF CONTAMINATED SOIL WAS HAULED TO AN APPROVED DISPOSAL FACILITY. AS REQUESTED BY PHMSA, THE TIME AND DATE OF THE ACCIDENT WAS CHANGED TO THE TIME/DATE MV311 WAS OPENED BY THE CONTROL CENTER. THIS IS A SPECULATED TIME OF RELEASE THAT WAS NOT WITNESSED OR VISUALLY VERIFIED. ACTUAL DISCOVERY OF THE RELEASE DID NOT OCCUR UNTIL THE FOLLOWING DAY WHEN OPERATIONS ARRIVED ON SITE. THE NCR CALL WAS MADE FOLLOWING THIS VISUAL CONFIRMATION.