COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

ON JANUARY 18TH AT 19:45, THE LEAD OPERATOR NOTIFIED THE OPERATIONS MANAGER OF A GASOLINE ODOR. AT 19:50, THE OPERATIONS MANAGER ARRIVED TO HELP INVESTIGATE THE GASOLINE ODOR, AND AT 19:54 THE OPERATIONS MANAGER AND LEAD OPERATOR DISCOVERED GASOLINE STAINING ON THE STONES IN THE MANIFOLD. THE OPERATIONS MANAGER IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED THE NJDEP AND WAS GIVEN CASE NUMBER 11-01-18-2000-21 BY OPERATOR 18. THE SECTION OF PIPE WAS ISOLATED TO STOP THE LEAK, HOWEVER, SHUTDOWN OF PIPELINE ACTIVITIES WAS NOT REQUIRED SINCE THE DELIVERY WAS COMPLETED PRIOR TO THE LEAK BEING DISCOVERED. A CONTRACT CREW WAS CALLED IN TO EXCAVATE THE MANIFOLD AREA FOR INSPECTION. ONCE EXPOSED IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE CAUSE WAS A FAILED GASKET IN THE MANIFOLD. REPAIR EFFORTS INVOLVED HYDRAULICALLY SPREADING THE JOINT TO REMOVE THE OLD GASKET AND INSERT A NEW GASKET. THE LINE WAS RETURNED TO SERVICE AFTER THE FLANGE WAS TIGHTENED TO SPECIFICATION. APPROXIMATELY 15 CUBIC YARDS OF CONTAMINATED SOIL AND STONE WERE REMOVED AND PLACED IN AN IMPERVIOUS ENVELOPE FOR FUTURE TREATMENT AT AN APPROVED OFFSITE FACILITY. THE ORIGINAL CIRCUMSTANCES DID NOT TRIGGER A TELEPHONIC NOTIFICATION TO NRC. AN NRC CALL WAS TRIGGERED, HOWEVER, BY A REVISED COST ESTIMATE ON 2/25/11 THAT INDICATED TOTAL COSTS WERE ESTIMATED TO EXCEED THE $50,000 REPORTING THRESHOLD.