[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 184 (Thursday, September 23, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57135-57136]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-21382]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs Administration


Potential for Damage to Pipeline Facilities Caused by the Passage 
of Hurricane Ivan

AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice; issuance of advisory bulletin.

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SUMMARY: RSPA is issuing this advisory bulletin to owners and operators 
of gas and hazardous liquid pipelines to communicate the potential for 
damage to pipeline facilities caused by the passage of Hurricane Ivan 
on September 16, 2004.

ADDRESSES: This document can be viewed on the Office of Pipeline Safety 
(OPS) home page at: http://ops.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Huriaux, (202) 366-4565, or by 
e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The purpose of this advisory bulletin is to warn all operators of 
gas and hazardous liquid pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent 
state waters that pipeline safety problems may have been caused by the 
passage of Hurricane Ivan on September 16, 2004. RSPA received several 
reports of damage to pipeline facilities in the offshore and inland 
areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle.
    It was reported in newspapers that officials with Houston-based 
Transocean found the semi-submersible drilling rig Deepwater Nautilus 
late Thursday, 70 miles from its original mooring site south of Mobile, 
Ala. No crew was aboard the rig, which likely rode through winds in 
excess of 140 mph and seas as high as 40 feet. The rig is built to 
handle winds of 120 mph, according to company data.
    It was also reported that Diamond Offshore Drilling reported one of 
its rigs, the Ocean Star, was found drifting 12 miles from its mooring 
80 miles south of Mobile, Ala.
    Energy companies evacuated workers from 545 platforms and 69 
drilling rigs in the Gulf, shutting in almost 4 million barrels of oil 
and 17 billion cubic feet of natural gas according to the U.S. 
Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service.
    The Federal pipeline safety regulations at 49 CFR parts 192 and 195 
require operators to shut down and start up pipeline facilities in a 
safe manner and to conduct periodic pipeline patrols to detect unusual 
operating and maintenance conditions and to take corrective action if 
conditions are unsafe. Because this patrolling is generally by 
aircraft, pipelines exposed or damaged on the sea floor may not be 
visually detected. It is likely that some pipeline facilities and 
pipelines located in the area of Hurricane Ivan's impact are damaged or 
exposed.
    The gas and hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations require 
that operators mitigate the safety condition if a pipeline facility is 
damaged or if a pipeline is exposed on the sea floor or constitutes a 
hazard to navigation. The regulations require that damaged pipeline 
facilities or exposed pipelines must be repaired, replaced, or reburied

[[Page 57136]]

to eliminate the hazard. And, pipelines that are a hazard to navigation 
must be promptly reported to the National Response Center (NRC) at 1-
800-424-8802.

II. Advisory Bulletin (ADB-04-04)

    To: Owners and operators of gas and hazardous liquid pipeline 
systems.
    Subject: Potential for damage to pipeline facilities caused by the 
passage of Hurricane Ivan.
    Advisory: All operators of gas and hazardous liquid pipelines in 
the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent state waters are warned that pipeline 
safety problems may have been caused by the passage of Hurricane Ivan 
on September 16, 2004. RSPA received several reports of damage to 
pipeline facilities, particularly offshore Louisiana.
    Pipeline operators should consider taking the following actions 
regarding the gas and hazardous liquid pipelines located in areas 
impacted by Hurricane Ivan:
    1. Identify persons who normally engage in shallow water commercial 
fishing, shrimping, and other marine vessel operations and caution them 
that submerged offshore pipelines may have become unprotected on the 
sea floor. Marine vessels operating in water depths comparable to a 
vessel's draft or when operating bottom dragging equipment can be 
damaged and their crews endangered by an encounter with a submerged 
pipeline.
    2. Identify and caution marine vessel operators in offshore 
shipping lanes and other offshore areas where Hurricane Ivan may have 
affected a pipeline that deploying fishing nets or anchors, and 
dredging operations may damage the pipeline, their vessels, and 
endanger their crews.
    3. In the process of bringing offshore and inland transmission 
facilities back online, operators are advised to check for structural 
damage to piping, valves, emergency shutdown systems, risers and 
supporting systems. Aerial inspections of pipeline routes should be 
conducted to check for leaks in the transmission systems. In areas 
where floating and jack-up rigs have moved and their path could have 
been over the pipelines, operators are advised to review possible 
routes and to check for sub-sea pipeline damage where required.
    4. Identify and correct any conditions on the pipeline that violate 
the Federal pipeline safety regulations. (49 U.S.C. Chapter 601; 49 CFR 
1.53).

Stacey L. Gerard,
Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 04-21382 Filed 9-22-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P