COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

ON MAY 19TH AFTER HEAVY RAIN STORMS THE PRIOR DAY A SMALL AMOUNT OF PRODUCT WAS OBSERVED NEAR THE SNIFFER TUBES OF TANK 1475 AT 14:08 BY AN INSPECTOR AND LEAD OPERATOR. THE OPERATIONS MANAGER WAS NOTIFIED AND HE CALLED NJDEP TO REPORT THE LEAK. THE STATE ASSIGNED CASE NUMBER 10-05-19-1409-28 BY OPERATOR #4. THE TANK WAS ISOLATED FROM THE SYSTEM BY LOCKING OUT ALL MANIFOLD VALVES AND REMOVING THE SHELL GATE VALVE AT THE TANK. THE TANK WAS CLEANED AND GAS FREED IN ORDER TO BE INSPECTED. LESS THAN 1 GALLON OF FUEL OIL WAS RECOVERED WITH DIAPERS. THE AMOUNT SPILLED WAS ORIGINALLY ESTIMATED TO BE LESS THAN 5 GALLONS AND THEREFORE WAS NOT REPORTED TO PHMSA. AN INTERNAL INSPECTION OF THE TANK REVEALED A CRACKED WELD ON THE ANGLE IRON AT THE RIM OF THE SUMP. THE FAILED WELD WAS CUT OUT. NEW STEEL WAS FABRICATED, WELDED IN PLACE AND THEN X-RAYED TO ASSURE PROPER INSTALLATION. ALSO DURING THIS PERIOD SEVERAL COUPONS WERE CUT FROM THE TANK FLOOR TO ALLOW ACCESS FOR COLLECTING SAMPLES FROM THE SAND LAYER BETWEEN THE TANK FLOOR AND THE IMPERVIOUS BETONITE LINER. NO FURTHER REMEDIAL ACTIONS WERE REQUIRED SINCE ALL OF THE SAMPLE RESULTS WERE BELOW STATE MANDATED ACTION LEVELS. BASED ON THE LOCATION, DEPTH AND HYDROCARBON CONCENTRATION IN THESE SAMPLES, IT WAS CONSERVATIVELY ESTIMATED THAT 15 GALLONS REMAIN UNDERLYING THE TANK. ACCORDINGLY, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE LEAK SHOULD BE REPORTED TO PHMSA.