Page 18 - Alabama 811 Magazine 2017 Issue 2

k Y D ’ N 9
In DU 0“ t Bed ® .
%V3§l7Z‘5 cR§:t'e"r"
Jackson MS ! I I
" 'vt: been in business for over shoek when he drives a post into the ior marking their own lines 7 often by
140 years and never hit any ground so he ran put up a fence! He's using a loeate service (They are the
underground lines. why should i "nut in 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 )
. V \ did used to bl: a pasture. so what?” 211's tab is notiiying all the utilities- to

iV,“riL"r§§°g.‘i?2i°a“w‘.‘r“§,2.’i'é§2«C‘§ahe The Plpeltnz and HazmdouoMat2rials $“*f,;‘“‘;§1;":;;";;$;“=:§:";§;g
past 40 years, while you were busy saiety Administration (PHMSA) mi’:t fljlmh‘ pmgza vofmmplmd
NOT digging into underground utility is a united states Department of mm the law NW W‘; m cm“ and
lines way out there in the country, a Transportation ageney ereated in mm 7 my kg“. AS ‘mg fig ya“ dun,‘
few things were going on: Lines were 2004, responsible for developing and M “mm 18 mum of the wmde of
being extended iurther and fuztlmr enioreing 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
eahle or phone lines 7 natural gas and natlDn's pipeline inrras-trueture, whieh tieket. Suzpn~2d7?

oil pipelines were there. They added aeeounts for 64 pereent of the energy mm“ mm mm. hm be uh

the eahle, phone, water and sewer lines eommodities eonsumed in the united dé“ m dumfgm ‘mm in am who
later. states. Made up of the Offitt: of Pipeline d 3 g ‘ ’ ’ ’

on [call hetore 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 iilier
go No one eheeked with the eities as to doesn't have penalties within their optiephone line wow: But worse, no
where they might he expanding over laws, PHMSA ean and will levy one can call 911, the are depanment,
the next to 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, mos-t direet way possible penalties all has gotten legis-lation lawsuits someone has to pay for this

7 and they spared no expense getting it through that mitigates some to; these damage 7 but wait: 7 you have a lorate
done, either. penalties for violations, heeause tieket. For which you ran thank 811
“N V cm ‘mu 1 ‘ _ d k V d _V PHMSA is not of a mind to torgive a without it, you are on the hook for ALL

> 5‘ ‘°‘"‘ W“ 2 “°° " iirs-t-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 which would later lieeome are and what you are doing. These so, Joe 7l know you're a busy man,

liig towns and eities Forty years is a days, even a homeowner driving a and you can’! wait -18 hours to get a job
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 s-takes 7 it you poke a hole in the are a smart man, too. i think you can

to ~'1ufl, 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 -18 hours 7
yust amn’l all that aerurate anymore. _OK,, you W “SO ‘ can 8“ WM but you sure ean lose it over a -18 hour
It's a lot easier to hit a pipeline today are they gonna do? How do they find Yb‘:
than it was hark in the day Those whars under where rm gonna dig it ‘mm mamg to

expanding lown~ 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 ‘°‘' “'°‘“ “"‘“‘ ran all By the way. loe, be sure to tell
"nlckcd" a line irom time to time. Now Y0“ Want 10 dis. Imr-the Palm any kind your iriends that times have ehanged
and then, a homeowner gets a real °‘ 5°19‘ ‘“ “W g’°“““‘ ’ Y°“ 1”“ ‘° 7 they'd hetter rall 311. Their insuranee

wait 43 hours while all the lines get mu,‘ MP mm mm .
is ‘ “mmw 201, km 2 marked. Eaeh utility is responsible