List of pipeline accidents in the United States in 1997

The following is a list of pipeline accidents in the United States in 1997. It is one of several lists of U.S. pipeline accidents. See also list of natural gas and oil production accidents in the United States.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Incidents

This is not a complete list of all pipeline accidents, due to the number of accidents. For natural gas alone, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), a United States Department of Transportation agency, has collected data on more than 3,200 accidents deemed serious or significant since 1987.

A "significant incident" results in any of the following consequences:

  • fatality or injury requiring in-patient hospitalization
  • $50,000 or more in total costs, measured in 1984 dollars
  • liquid releases of five or more barrels (42 US gal/barrel)
  • releases resulting in an unintentional fire or explosion

PHMSA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) post incident data and results of investigations into accidents involving pipelines that carry a variety of products, including natural gas, oil, diesel fuel, gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel, carbon dioxide, and other substances. Occasionally pipelines are re-purposed to carry different products.[1]

Major Pipeline Accidents in the United States in 1997
1997 Direct Effect on Population Incident Description and loss of materials
February 6 No injuries reported. Fire broke out, forcing all residents within a mile of station to evacuate for a time. A seal on a pump at a pump station, on a MAPCO natural gasoline pipeline, near Moville, Iowa failed, allowing the product to leak, causing a fire. About 200 US gallons (760 L) of natural gasoline was burned.[2][3]
February 8 No injuries reported. A 26-inch gas transmission pipeline failed near Everson, Washington, releasing an explosion which was visible for 40 miles.[4]
February 9 No injuries reported. A few people were evacuated for a time. A gas transmission pipeline failed near Kalama, Washington, causing a massive fire. It was the second failure of a Northwestern Pipeline Corp. gas transmission pipeline in 2 days in the state of Washington.[5][6]
March 1 No injuries reported. An 8-inch SFPP (now Kinder Morgan) petroleum products pipeline was discovered to be leaking near Truckee, California. Some of the spilled product reached Summit Creek. While there were efforts to keep the leaked product from reaching Donner Lake, the spill size of this leak was listed as zero in the report given to PHMSA.[7][8]
May 9 No injuries reported. A leak was detected on a 12-inch pipeline near Mount Morris, Illinois. Between 125,000 and 130,000 US gallons (490,000 L) of gasoline were spilled, leading to over a month of cleanup to remove gasoline from the surrounding area.[9]
May 12 No injuries reported. A Koch Industries crude oil pipeline was spotted leaking by a pipeline patrol aircraft near Bayside, Texas. About 75,600 US gallons (286,000 L) of crude were spilled, affecting marshlands.[10][11]
May 30 Several Employees were required to flee due to the vapour cloud. A Colonial Pipeline spilled approximately 18,900 US gallons (72,000 L) of gasoline, some of which entered an unnamed creek and its adjoining shoreline in the Bear Creek watershed near Athens, Georgia. During the spill, a vapour cloud of gasoline formed. This spill resulted from a calculation error related to a regular procedure. No one checked the calculations, nor did Colonial have a procedure in place to check such calculations.[12]
June 20-26 No injuries reported. Two different sections of a Conoco pipeline were ruptured by earth movement just a few days apart. On June 20, the pipeline ruptured near Lodge Grass, Montana, on the Crow Indian reservation, spilling 1,612 barrels of gasoline. On June 26, the pipeline again failed from earth movement near Banner, Wyoming, spilling 704 barrels of gasoline. The Lodge Grass section of pipeline resulted in 3,400 feet of new pipeline being buried 6 to feet deep to avoid soft soil, deeper than the required 3 feet of soil coverage.[13][14]
July 21 One local resident killed, one injured in the explosion. Approximately 75 residents required temporary shelter. Six homes were destroyed, and about 65 others sustained damage significant enough to be documented by the local investigation team. A gas pipeline was ruptured, causing an explosion and fire in Indianapolis, Indiana. A 20-inch steel natural gas transmission pipeline was ruptured by a contractor for the gas company, and released natural gas near an intersection adjoining the Charter Pointe subdivision. A nearby directional drilling operation had hit & weakened the pipeline before the failure.[15][16]
August 11 3,500 Inmates evacuated from nearby correctional facilities. A Chevron Corporation LPG pipeline leaked in Dayton, Texas, causing the loss of 5,041 barrels of LPG. There were no injuries, and the failure caused was listed as "Miscellaneous".[17][18]
August - September 10 No injuries reported. In August, residents in Vacaville, California noticed petroleum fumes, but a leaking pipeline was not found until September. The spill was caused by a hairline crack from the pipe's manufacturing, and 20,000 to 60,000 US gallons (230,000 L) of petroleum products had leaked by the time the source was found.[19]
September 9 No injuries reported. Construction equipment ruptured a Plantation Pipeline line in Fairfax, Virginia, releasing over 2,000 US gallons (7,600 L) of petroleum products.[20][21]
December No injuries reported. Over a period of years, more than 420,000 US gallons (1,600,000 L) of gasoline spilled from small leaks in Colonial Pipeline near Darling Creek in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, before Colonial finally discovered the leak in December 1997. As of September 1999, a plume of gasoline, including leaded gasoline, extended over approximately 14 acres (57,000 m2) on the groundwater surface, more than 60 acres (240,000 m2) of groundwater had been contaminated, and some of the gasoline had entered Darling Creek.[12]
December 12 No injuries reported. A Mid-Valley pipeline leaked at a pump station in Cygnet, Ohio, spilling about 4,200 US gallons (16,000 L) of crude oil.[22][23]
December 13 No injuries reported. A Plains All American Pipeline pipe ruptured from external corrosion in rural San Bernardino County, California, spilling about 541,000 US gallons (2,050,000 L) of crude oil. About 322,000 US gallons (1,220,000 L) of crude were lost.[24][25][26]

References
  1. Data sets of PHMSA Pipeline Safety-Flagged Incidents for 1986-2001, 2002-2009, and 2010-2017 can be downloaded from the tab by that name on the PHMSA's Pipeline Incident Flagged Files page at https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/data-and-statistics/pipeline/pipeline-incident-flagged-files, accessed 2018.01.10. PHMSA Corrective Action Orders are at https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/enforce/CAO_opid_0.html. PHMSA Pipeline Failure Investigation Reports are at https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/safety-reports/pipeline-failure-investigation-reports. NTSB Pipeline Accident Reports are at https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/pipeline.aspx.
  2. "Moville Record - Google News Archive Search". google.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  3. "Feb. 6, 1997 - ProPublica". propublica.org. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  4. "Sun Journal - Google News Archive Search". google.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  5. "The Spokesman-Review - Google News Archive Search". google.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  6. "Feb. 9, 1997 - ProPublica". propublica.org. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  7. "Lodi News-Sentinel - Google News Archive Search". google.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  8. "March 1, 1997 - ProPublica". propublica.org. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  9. "The Telegraph-Herald - Google News Archive Search". google.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  10. "The Victoria Advocate - Google News Archive Search". google.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  11. "May 12, 1997 - ProPublica". propublica.org. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  12. "Compliance Resources : Colonial Pipeline Report". Archived from the original on October 28, 2013. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  13. Cindy Uken. "Cleanup, investigation underway after Phillips 66 pipeline leaks gas on Crow land". Montana Standard. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  14. "June 26, 1997 - ProPublica". propublica.org. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  15. "Pipeline Report". Archived from the original on February 20, 2014. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
  16. "Updates - The Star Press - thestarpress.com". The Star Press. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  17. "The Victoria Advocate - Google News Archive Search". google.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  18. "Aug. 11, 1997 - ProPublica". propublica.org. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  19. "Pipeline Report". Archived from the original on March 3, 2012. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  20. "Sept. 9, 1997 - ProPublica". propublica.org. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  21. "Fairfax County, VA Hazardous Waste Superfund Sites". homefacts.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  22. "Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search". google.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  23. "Dec. 12, 1997 - ProPublica". propublica.org. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  24. "Exhibit N : Pipeline Tragedies Across the U.S." (PDF). Co.coos.or.us. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  25. "Dec. 13, 1997 - ProPublica". propublica.org. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  26. "Database: Compare Kalamazoo River oil spill to other U.S. pipeline spills". MLive.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
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