Excavation contractors say they know dangers of buried gas pipelines

Utility officials and the Iowa Attorney General's Office continue to investigate two pipeline blasts in Iowa last week. And a spokesperson for both Mid-American Energy and Northern Natural Gas Company said neither contractor in the two explosions called to locate buried utilities before digging and hitting the gas pipelines.

The most recent explosion happened late Friday afternoon in La Motte in Jackson County. A contractor burying a drainage tile in a farm field hit a 14-inch Mid-American Energy gas line. The fireball rose an estimated 200 feet into the air. No one was injured.

Last Wednesday, two men suffered injuries in a similar blast when their trenching equipment struck a gas pipeline near Hinton just north of Sioux City.

Dan Rasmussen, executive director of the Iowa chapter of Land Improvement Contractors of America (LICA), said Iowa's law is clear and professional excavation contractors know what it means. Contractors or the land owner must call the Iowa One Call hotline at least 48 hours before starting any digging job. That office has the responsibility of locating buried utilities or other underground hazards such as gas pipelines. The rules also apply to homeowners who are digging in their yard.

The Iowa Pipeline Association estimates there are more than 41,000 miles of hazardous liquid or natural gas pipelines crisscrossing the state.

Rasmussen said excavation contractors in Iowa have gone several years without triggering an accidental explosion by hitting a buried gas pipeline -- until last week, that is.

“Everyone thinks we know where everything is, and once in a while somebody makes a mistake,” Rasmussen said.

The director of the excavation contractor's trade group said there are other things in fields now to worry about aside from pipelines.

“Fiber optic cables are moving out into the farm field. You just can't hardly dig like we used to-that's all there is to it,” Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen said after the two blasts last week, he plans reminders to members of his group about the need to use the Iowa One Call system, which can be reached by dialing 8-1-1.

He said companies have permanent markers showing the location of buried gas pipelines, and a call ahead will bring workers who'll locate everything near a work site.

Still, if contractors get in a hurry or think they know what's underground without checking first, accidents happen.

Rasmussen gave one example of how even contractors who routinely call ahead can get in trouble. “All of a sudden, the landowner comes and says we'd like to have something done over here-just out of the blue. Those things can happen. Are they excuses? No.”

Utility companies that own the pipelines said they aren't finished tallying up the damages. But the blast in Jackson County and the one in western Iowa will be an expensive repair bill. And under Iowa law, it's the contractor or the land owner's responsibility to pay.

In addition, the Iowa Attorney General's Office can pursue state penalties.