COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

hazardous_liquid Incident —

Incident Information

Report Date
OperatorCOLONIAL PIPELINE CO
Commodity—
Pipeline Typehazardous_liquid

Location

State
Coordinates29.71871, -95.17964

Cause

CauseEQUIPMENT FAILURE
Subcause—

Casualties

Fatalities0
Injuries0

Costs

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

Location Map

Incident Narrative

ON SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2012, AT APPROX. 6:35 AM THE B OPERATOR AT HOUSTON STATION NOTICED WHAT APPEARED TO BE A SMALL BUT STEADY STREAM OF DIESEL FUEL COMING FROM THE STEM SEAL ON THE LINE 02 UNIT 4 DISCHARGE VALVE. THE B OPERATOR IMMEDIATELY INFORMED THE A OPERATOR OF THE DISCOVERY, AND THEN ISOLATED THE UNIT BY CLOSING BOTH THE UNIT SUCTION AND DISCHARGE VALVES. THE B OPERATOR NOTIFIED A TECHNICIAN AND BEGAN CLEANUP. TECHNICIAN ARRIVED AT 7:45 AM TO EXAMINE THE VALVE AND ASSIST WITH CLEANUP AND CALLED OUT THE LEAD TECHNICIAN. LEAD TECHNICIAN ARRIVED AT 10:15 AM AND NOTIFIED THE OPERATIONS MANAGER, WHO IN TURN NOTIFIED THE DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AT 10:40 AM. CONTRACTORS AND ADDITIONAL TECHNICIANS WERE CALLED TO ASSIST WITH THE VALVE REPAIR AND CLEANUP AND THE VALVE WAS REPAIRED AND RETURNED TO SERVICE AT 5:45 PM. THE VOLUME OF FREE PRODUCT RECOVERED WAS APPROXIMATELY 17 GALLONS. CONTAMINATED SOILS AND GRAVEL WERE REMOVED AND STOCKPILED ON PLASTIC SHEETING SUNDAY, 5/20/12. SOIL SAMPLES WERE TAKEN ON MONDAY, 5/21/12 AND SENT FOR ANALYSIS. SOIL DISPOSAL WAS COMPLETED IN OCTOBER. VOLUME RELEASED DID NOT MEET LOCAL STATE NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.

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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