ENBRIDGE PIPELINES (NORTH DAKOTA) LLC

Incident Narrative

DURING AN INTEGRITY DIG, CONTRACTOR CREWS DISCOVERED DISCOLORED SOIL (12:00 P.M.). THE INSPECTOR ON SITE CONFIRMED THAT THE PIPELINE WAS WEEPING. THE CONTROL CENTER WAS CONTACTED TO SHUT DOWN THE LINE. THE LINE WAS SHUT DOWN AT 12:08 P.M. ENBRIDGE ENVIRONMENT AND SAFETY WORKED TO ENSURE SAFETY OF RESPONSE AND COMPLIANCE WITH SPILL RESPONSE REGULATIONS. CONTRACTORS ON SITE FOR THE INTEGRITY WORK WERE UTILIZED TO ASSIST ENBRIDGE RESPONDERS WITH PRODUCT CLEAN UP AND PIPELINE REPAIR. REPAIR WAS COMPLETED BY INSTALLING A PIPELINE SLEEVE LOCATED WHERE THE ILI TOOL INDICATED AS PREDETERMINED BY THE INTEGRITY DIG PROGRAM. RELEASE WAS ESTIMATED AT 10 GALLONS. 25 CUBIC YARDS OF CONTAMINATED SOIL WAS HAULED TO AN APPROVED DISPOSAL FACILITY. BASED ON THE IN-LINE INSPECTION CRACK TOOL RUN ON LINE 81, AN ANOMALY WAS DETECTED AS A CRACK-LIKE FEATURE, 0.08-0.12 INCHES DEEP AND 3.16 INCHES LONG ADJACENT TO THE LONGSEAM WELD. THE ANOMALY WAS CONFIRMED TO BE A CRACK IN THE LONGSEAM WELD WHICH WAS SEEPING, THROUGH WALL AND 3 INCHES LONG. THE FEATURE WAS ASSESSED USING NDE AND WAS SLEEVED. A GEOMETRY TOOL AND A MFL TOOL RUN WERE COMPLETED IN 2009. A CRACK TOOL WAS COMPLETED IN 2012. REPAIR COSTS REFLECT A GOOD FAITH ESTIMATE EXTRACTED FROM THE TOTAL INTEGRITY DIG COSTS AS REQUESTED BY PHMSA AND AGREED TO POST RELEASE. OUR ACCOUNTING STRUCTURE AT THE TIME OF THIS RELEASE WAS NOT SET UP TO SEPARATE REPAIR COSTS FROM TOTAL DIG PROJECT COSTS. THE ADDITION OF THESE COSTS BROUGHT THE TOTAL OVER THE $50,000 REPORTING THRESHOLD FOR NOTIFYING THE NRC, HOWEVER, AT THE TIME OF THE RELEASE THESE REPAIRS COSTS WERE CONSIDERED TO BE INDEPENDENT OF THE RELEASE COSTS AND THEREFORE WERE NOT ORIGINALLY INCLUDED IN THE ESTIMATED COSTS OF THE RELEASE. THEREFORE THE NRC WAS NOT CONTACTED AT THE TIME OF THE RELEASE.