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COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

hazardous_liquid Incident —

Incident Information

Report Date—
OperatorCOLONIAL PIPELINE CO
Commodity—
Pipeline Typehazardous_liquid

Location

State
Coordinates36.07076, -79.93915

Cause

CauseINCORRECT OPERATION
Subcause—

Casualties

Fatalities0
Injuries0

Costs

Property Damage—
Lost Commodity—
Public/Private Damage—
Emergency Response—
Environmental Remediation—
Other Costs—

Location Map

Incident Narrative

AT APPROXIMATELY 06:28 ON JANUARY 01, 2013,THE 03 LINE SHUT DOWN DUE TO LOW SUCTION WHILE CHANGING PRODUCT TYPE FROM FUEL OIL TO GASOLINE. AT THAT TIME, THE B OPERATOR WENT TO BLEED AIR FROM THE UNITS IN THE OUTGOING MANIFOLD. HE ALSO WENT TO THE GASOLINE MANIFOLD TO CHECK ON THE GASOLINE CAN PUMP AND SPOTTED GASOLINE ON THE GROUND IN THE AREA. AT 06:53 THE LEAD OPERATOR WAS NOTIFIED OF THE INCIDENT. AT 06:54 THE LOCAL PROJECTS AND RESPONSE PERSONNEL WERE NOTIFIED. AT 07:00 THE LEAD OPERATOR NOTIFIED THE DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS. THE LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIALIST WAS NOTIFIED AT 07:08. ALL OF THE ABOVE MENTIONED WERE ON SITE BY 07:45. SINCE THE RELEASE WAS GASOLINE, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT IT WOULD BE SAFER TO HAVE THE FIRE DEPARTMENT ON SITE AND A 911 CALL WAS MADE AT 07:49. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT ARRIVED AT 07:55. GUILFORD COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT WAS NOTIFIED BY FIRE DEPARTMENT BATTALION CHIEF. WHEN IT WAS DETERMINED THAT MORE THAN 25 GALLONS HAD BEEN RELEASED, THE ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIALIST NOTIFIED NCDENR AT 09:51. THE NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER (NRC) WAS INITIALLY NOTIFIED ON JANUARY 01, 2013 AT 17:31 BY REPORT NO. 1034598 WHEN IT WAS ESTIMATED THAT RESPONSE AND REPAIR COSTS WOULD EXCEED $50,000. A FOLLOW UP NOTIFICATION WAS MADE TO THE NRC ON JANUARY 07, 2013 AT 16:50 BY REPORT NO. 1035033 TO UPDATE THE RELEASE VOLUME TO ACCOUNT FOR PRODUCT THAT WAS CAPTURED WITHIN THE CONCRETE VAULT BUT NOT RELEASED TO THE ENVIRONMENT. THE FAILURE OCCURRED WITH THE LINE 03 GAS CAN PUMP WHICH WAS STARTED AND RAN WITH NO FLOW DUE TO A CLOSED INLET VALVE. THE OPERATOR MISSED A STEP TO OPEN THE PREMIUM GAS DIVIDER VALVE IN THE OIL TO GAS PROCEDURE. THE CAN PUMP STOPPED DUE TO HIGH VIBRATION ACCORDING TO ALARMS ON THE OPERATOR'S SCREEN. THE INTEGRITY OF THE CAN PUMP FLANGE WAS COMPROMISED DUE TO OVER PRESSURE RESULTING IN THE RELEASE. THE ESTIMATED VOLUME OF THE RELEASE IS 5,514 GALLONS. OF THIS TOTAL, 3,024 GALLONS WERE CONTAINED WITHIN AND RECOVERED FROM THE CAN PUMP CONCRETE VAULT. A TOTAL OF 4,447 GALLONS WAS RECOVERED AND APPROXIMATELY 1,067 GALLONS WERE LOST TO EVAPORATION AND APPROXIMATELY 6 GALLONS ARE ESTIMATED TO BE CONTAINED WITHIN THE IMPACTED SOILS. THE GAS CAN PUMP AND ASSOCIATED PIPING HAS BEEN ISOLATED FROM THE SYSTEM. A PIPING BYPASS WAS CONSTRUCTED AND INSTALLED AROUND THE CAN PUMP TO RESTORE OPERATIONS.

About This Pipeline Incident

Pipeline incident data is reported to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). All significant incidents involving fatalities, injuries, or property damage over $50,000 must be reported.

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