Pipeline Accident Report: Rupture of Piney Point Oil Pipeline and Release of Fuel Oil Near Chalk Point, Maryland, April 7, 2000

On the morning of April 7, 2000, the Piney Point Oil Pipeline system, which was owned by the Potomac Electric Power Company, experienced a pipe failure at the Chalk Point Generating Station in southeastern Prince George's County, Maryland. The release was not discovered and addressed by the contract operating company, Support Terminal Services, Inc., until the late afternoon. Approximately 140,400 gallons of fuel oil were released into the surrounding wetlands and Swanson Creek and, subsequently, the Patuxent River as a result of the accident. No injuries were caused by the accident, which cost approximately $71 million for environmental response and clean-up operations. The safety issues discussed in this report are the sufficiency of the evaluation procedures for pipe wrinkles; the efficiency of the leak notification procedures; and the effectiveness of the incident command. As a result of its investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board issued safety recommendations to the Research and Special Programs Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency.

• Record URL:
  • https://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/2002/PAR0201.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 2002-7-23

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Appendices; Figures;
• Pagination: 62p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Costs; Environmental impacts; Evaluation; Fuel oils; Leakage; Pipeline safety; Procedures; Rivers; Wetlands
• Identifier Terms: Piney Point Oil Pipeline; Potomac Electric Power Company
• Uncontrolled Terms: Effectiveness; Notification; Pipe wrinkles; Pipeline failures; Rupture
• Geographic Terms: Chalk Point (Maryland)
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Environment; Finance; Pipelines; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01014956
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB/PAR-02/01, Notation 7285A
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 3 2006 8:19AM