PSC issues $5K fine for digging near gas line

Wisconsin regulators have fined a utility contractor for nearly striking a gas main in Vernon County, a case that’s stirring up questions about whether the state is tough enough on excavators.

The Wisconsin Public Service Commission voted unanimously on Thursday to fine Iowa-based Muscatine Utility Services $5,000 for violating the state’s one-call law, which requires excavators to check the location of underground utilities before digging. The company could be faced with another $5,000 penalty if it fails to take an instructional course or breaks the law again within a year.

The commission levied the fine under a 2017 law that allows it to penalize contractors for not calling the digger’s hotline. The PSC turned to that same authority in August when it fined the contractor VC Tech $27,500 for failing to check for utilities before striking a natural-gas line, a misstep that resulted in an explosion that leveled much of downtown Sun Prairie and killed a firefighter.

In a memo filed with the PSC, Northern Natural Gas Co., which brought the complaint against Muscatine, argued that Wisconsin’s one-call law could use further strengthening. The memo noted that states such as Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota now go beyond Wisconsin by requiring excavators to call a natural-gas company before digging within 25 feet of a pipeline.

“It’s a prudent practice,” said Mike Loeffler, senior director of certificates, media and external affairs for NNG. “It’s a matter of putting safety first.”

NNG argues Muscatine Utility Services was careless when digging in October 2018 near a gas pipeline close to a subdivision in the Vernon County town of Westaby — boring just 15 inches away from the line. The PSC weighed the complaint after a panel of experts referred it to the commission.

NNG marked the location of the natural-gas line in Westaby after a worker from Muscatine had followed Wisconsin’s requirement to call the Digger’s Hotline. NNG’s own policies go further, though, by requiring that one of the company’s own workers be present when an excavator plans to dig near a gas line.

Muscatine ignored that rule and dug five days later on its own. After coming within inches of the pipeline, a Muscatine official called NNG, which later reported the incident. NNG argues Muscatine should have done the dig with more than one worker present, and that it also ignored flags marking the gas line’s location.

“While no actual damage occurred, the risk was grave—the area where this occurred is surrounded by single-family homes,” According to NNG’s memo on the case.

The gas company also argues that Muscatine Utility Services refused to take the complaint seriously, failing to show up for hearings before an administrative-law judge. Reached by phone Monday, James Thye of Muscatine Utility Services said he wasn’t aware that the Public Service Commission had fined him last week. He said he received an email from the commission asking why he’d missed meetings, but he wasn’t aware the PSC was conducting a probe.

Thye said he knew he made a mistake when he dug near the pipeline but believed there wouldn’t be further consequences after he had made his report to the gas company.

“I called (NNG) immediately,” Thye said. “I thought things were OK.”

The PSC ultimately found that Muscatine violated the law by coming within 18 inches of a pipeline. As far, though, as needing to have a gas company representative on-site for digs near gas infrastructure, there’s no such requirement in Wisconsin.

Loeffler said NNG has supported the use of such rules in other states — Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota, among others — and would push the Wisconsin Legislature to adopt a similar change. He said gas company employees are able to respond to digs quickly and can do a lot to make such work safer.

The risks of digging near natural gas pipelines were on full display in July 2018, when a contractor struck a gas line in Sun Prairie that caused a deadly explosion. In the wake of that disaster, Sun Prairie Democratic Rep. Gary Hebl introduced a bill last August to clarify that contractors are required to call the Digger’s Hotline before excavating.

The bill got a public hearing in September but didn’t get a vote before the Assembly’s Committee on Energy and Utilities. Follow @natebeck9