Page 7 - Mississippi 811 Magazine 2020 Issue 1

one such routine monitoring activity produced the company's

first Alleged violation Repnn (AVE). the state of Mississippi's _

ofiirial reporting mechanism (or infractions involving digging - V3‘,-\\\\M

activities. e“eta\\\\““cy;\\fi9

"The AVE is the way to report a violation to the state 6&0 56¢ Gal“?

where someone should have called in an an ticlret fur P~ 04.65

the job and either didn't. or didn't wait the 43 hours to \\N

start." the employee said. ‘Anytime there's an unaulhorized wt»
encroachment, we do an AVR." - ' ' ‘

The nrst case was reported by Kinder Morgan personnel V I ‘ “ ~

whom they call ”rigl|I—of—way delendersr They were ,i -5“.

performing maintenance duties in the area and noticed a " ',

ditch had been dug across the right—ol—way. bul there was no - .

record of a one call notificatinn. There were clear pipeline gxpe, fenced ¢;o,,,,,,e,c,-5,, Agems
crossing markers in place. as required hy the US Department

of Transportation. hut they appeared to have heen ignored Discover 8 H the Ways We

hy the violator. ,

can protect your business.

The rigl1t—of—way detenders were able to traclr down the

violator, who was leasing property lrom another individual. _ H

Kinder Morgan suhmilled an AVR tn Ihe slate. and a letter

was sent to the violator, PULWV BEN???

--sometime later, the same person did an excavation with a r’ ..—m V ;o, H’ «:

mechanical piece of equipmenl, maybe a tann tractor, and I 7 _ _ _ _, ,

scraped across our pipeline right—ol—way removing dirt," the = L‘-lw ~:| ' 1 >:-it-’ M 2 —\\‘—Wz
employee said. “The incidenl was spotted by our air patrol l—v:. l V '7L'H;1‘i>'

contractor who called us during the patrol. The local right ywywtpcing mm

of—way detender perlonned a field visit and determined it was

the same person."

The AVR process hegan anew. with a second report heing

filed against the oeender — now on their second nculifiralion.

The property owner also received a notifiralinn in writing, in V'VAx

addition to the violator. MTETROTEEH

The state required the violator to complete mandatory online _

training about the seriousness oi excavating near utilities, Dim-we Pmlecflafli FISH Efivi and M=cI"Ifel
and the importance of calling sit prior to any digging activity, . cm, ,,,,,,,,,, mg, mg ,,,,,,,,,,,,, mm,

i" 139“ °‘ fines» - lntemal logging with cloud rm. mulysls

"I was able to find out alter the tact that the person did - Re-I «I--2 «Is-«man -lens

complete the training. and there were no fines in that case. - lnlemnl nallhnwun eneertn.

The lirst violation gets you a letter, the second violation is

mandatory training and the third violation is a fine. Months

later, our air patrol contractor reported a pile of topsoil near

the right—ol—way on the same piece ol property. The property :;=g;;:;: ~"Q3"~:-»;"‘;'f;_'fl-g‘:-;';=_';°~‘
owner was contacted. and he said the he would malre a one hm‘, ,m,§f‘w,_, ,,gm.,,.,

call ticlret prior to moving the dirt. so it obvinusly got his

attention." the employee said.

Kinder Morgan. along with other pipeline operators, have

state and federal requirements — as well as requiremenls

trom their internal safely department — to malre sure the

puhlir knows how imponant it is to operate sately around

pipelines.

"The last thing we want is to have someones life, property, ;',f:’;?;;‘;:,‘,',';',‘;',“,',‘,':;j[;‘,,’;°;;f,“‘:y;; ;‘§‘M'{,j,‘,’,f:.',',f,“,‘;".§,“.‘,’“,,’,f',“n
environment, or community compromised hecause ol lmp-cflun Canny: srstun Ufllnylnmtnv

someones damage prevention ignorance. we aren't the police.

or Ihe law. so we on you. Sometimes we need the
long arm of the law to intervene in these situations. The AVE ,,i,___,,_,M_g,, c_,P_,_,._,, ‘mm: I e
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