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 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:
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]
| 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 200USgal 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 130000USgal 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 75600USgal 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 18900USgal 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 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 60000USgal 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 2000USgal of petroleum products.[20] [21] | |
| December | No injuries reported. | Over a period of years, more than 420000USgal 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 14acres on the groundwater surface, more than 60acres of groundwater had been contaminated, and some of the gasoline had entered Darling Creek. | |
| December 12 | No injuries reported. | A Mid-Valley pipeline leaked at a pump station in Cygnet, Ohio, spilling about 4200USgal 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 541000USgal of crude oil. About 322000USgal of crude were lost.[24] [25] [26] |