Page 14 - West Virgina 2017 Issue 2

k Y D ’ N 9
II1 Oll OI1 t eed ®I
‘%";5§F72“ya cRe‘a"t'e"r"
Jackson MS ! I I
" 'vl: been in business for over shoek when he drives a post into the for marking their own lines 7 often by
140 years and never hit any ground so he ean put up a fence! He's using a locate serviee (They are the
underground lines. why should i "cut iii the rountry" 7 nowhere near a ones with the 'mag|c wands’ 7 ground
eall am" road nghl-of-way! ”Well, yes 7 l think it penetrating radar among other things )
WE”, be m cm thing’ you,” did used to be a pasture. so what? g 2:’: to
breaking the law if you don t. in the The Plpelmz and Hazardous Materials mggmg Pm and Mung you a [mm
past sln years, while you were busy g sarety administration (PHMSA) mpg, _ Wruch pmm V0,, mmplmd
NOT digging into underground utility is a united states Department of mm the law NOW W’, m cm“ and
lines way out there in the country, a Transportation ageney ereated in mm 7 my kgfll‘ As ‘mg fig you don“
few things were going on: Lines were 2004, responsible for developing and (“E “Mn” 18 mum of the wmde of
being extended further and turtlier entoreing regulations for the saie, fimhm [me ymm, gold ’
out into the country; never mind some reliable, and environmentally sound ' ’
lines were already out there befom you operation of the us’ 2.5 million mile "rm insured", you say? No, not for
ever started being an exravator. No, not pipeline transportation. lt oversees the this, you aren't, not it you don't have a
eable or phone lines 7 natural gas and nation's pipeline inrrastrueture, whieh tieket. Suzpn~2d7?
oil pipelines were there. They added accounts for 64 pereent of the energy mm“ mm mm. hm be “H
the cabin, phone, water and sewer lines eomnriodities eonsumed in the United d ’ V I F; I __ E 6? ,1
later. states. Made up of the Offlcl: of Pipeline d""? ‘"3 ‘ ‘“"" °' “W” " “M “ ‘°
on [call betore they dig 7 and have
when the i lines were laid the 5“"“Y “"1 ”‘° 0"“ °‘ ""”’‘‘°“‘ the tieket to prove it. They may have
. P "° ' Materials Safety. . — ,
design was to go through that paid last year, but not anymore. why.
eountryside in the most direet way to PHMSA is Federal and is enfnrclng You have violated the law If you hit a
get their rontents where it needed to underground saicty If your state line 7 let's say you eut a $25,000 iiber
go No one eheeked with the eities as to doesn't have penalties within their optiephone line wow: but worse, no
where they might be expanding over laws, PHMSA ean and will levy one can call 911, the are department,
the next stn years 7 these were oil and penalties 7 whirh are quite steep. hospitals, doetors 7 it's a really bad
gas operators. They laid that pipe in lnsuranre never, ever pays fines and thing, leading to all sorts of potential
the quirkest, most direct way possible penalties an has gotten legislation lawsuits someone has to pay for this
7 and they spared no expense getting it through that mitigates some oi these damage 7 but wait: 7 you have a lorate
done, either. penalties for violations, beeause tieket. For Wluch you ean thank 311
The V cm mm“ 1 ‘ _ d k V d _V PHMSA is not of a mind to iorgive a without it, you are on the hook for ALL
> 5‘ ‘°‘"‘ W“ 2 “°° " iirst-time offense. orit. And there is no eoverage anymore
they eut through areas where roads M Mm happmcd
would someday pass; they ran near Ioe, it almost doc~n'I matter who you
small towns whieh would later beeome are and what you are doing. These so, Joe 7l know you're a busy man,
big towns and eities Forty years is a days, even a horneowner driving a and you can’! wait -18 hours to get a lob
long time 7 time for the ground to move post to put up a fence, or a surveyor moving and all that 7 but i think you
and "walk” 7 mostly tor those pipelines setting stakes 7 it you poke a hole in the are a smart man, too. i think you ean
to shitt, not to be where they were put ground, the law says you HAVE to eall see it isn't worth risking everything you
long years ago. Those old paper maps 811 Every time have You didn't make it in 48 hours 7

It's a lot easier to hit a pipeline today are they gonna do? How do Iheyflnd hdP’yuuy but 811 can pminmmm
than it was baek in the day Those whars under where I'm gonna digit from mdmg to

expanding lO\'t'l'|~ have put pipelines those maps aren't accuratn? They have

smaek within their eity limits And some kind of 'magir wr1nd’?” You'll soon be telling your eustomer
over the ears, there have been uite he can’l have it tomorrow. You have to
a few unknown rontraetors who‘ have Mm“ 3”“ “a” B“ “"1 ‘°‘' “'°‘“ “"‘“‘ rall 811 By the way. loe, be sure to tell
"nlckcd" a line from time to time. Now Y0“ Want 10 dis. Imr-the Palm any kind your trierids that times have ehanged
and then, a horneowner gets a real °‘ 5°19‘ ‘“ “W g’°“““‘ ’ Y°“ 1”“ ‘° 7 they'd better rall 311. Their insuranee

wait 43 hours while all the lines get an,‘ MP mm mm .
12. wesmygmm gamma marked. Eaeh utility is responsible