2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 69. Public Utilities and Carriers › Chapter 4. Utility Lines and Facilities › Part 5. Excavations Near Underground Facilities › 69-4-503. Notification -- locating and marking

69-4-503. Notification -- locating and marking.
(1) Before beginning an excavation, the excavator shall notify, through a notification center, all owners of underground facilities in the area of the proposed excavation. Except as provided in subsection (9), notifications are limited to excavation work intended to commence within 10 days and completed within 30 days of the notification.
(2) An excavator shall provide adequate information to the owners of underground facilities in order to locate and mark the location of underground facilities.
(a) Adequate information must allow the person completing the locate to determine the area where the proposed excavation will occur. The information may include but is not limited to marking the path of the proposed excavation with white paint, marking the path of the proposed excavation with white flagging, or other clear marking that allows a person to determine the path of the proposed excavation.
(b) If the person completing the locate is unable to determine the path of the proposed excavation based on markings or other communications with the excavator, the excavator shall meet with the person completing the locate at the site where the excavation is proposed.
(3) After an excavator has notified the appropriate notification center of a proposed excavation, an owner of an underground facility shall:
(a) except as provided in subsection (3)(b) and in accordance with subsection (5), locate and mark the location within 2 business days;
(b) locate and mark the location within 5 business days or within 5 business days of a date agreed to after a meeting between the person conducting the locate and the excavator at the site where the excavation is proposed, if the locate is required for an engineering locate request; or
(c) respond as soon as practicable if the excavator notifies the notification center that an emergency exists.
(4) (a) After an underground facility owner locates and marks the location of underground facilities, the excavator shall determine if weather, time, or other factors may have affected location marks, warranting relocation of the facilities.
(b) Except as provided in subsection (9), if excavation has not occurred within 30 days of the location and marking being completed, the excavator shall request that the underground facility be located and marked again before excavating.
(c) (i) If an excavation has not occurred at a site within 30 days of the locate and mark being completed on two occasions and an excavator makes a third request for locate, the excavator is responsible for costs associated with the subsequent location and marking of the underground facility.
(ii) If an excavator disputes the costs required in subsection (4)(c)(i), the excavator has the burden of proof or must demonstrate circumstances beyond the excavator's control delayed the excavation.
(5) Upon receipt of the notice provided for in this section, the underground facility owner shall provide the excavator with reasonably accurate information as to the owner's locatable underground facilities by surface locating and marking the location of the facilities. If there are identified but unlocatable underground facilities, the underground facility owner shall provide the excavator with the best available information as to their locations. If an underground facility owner has knowledge of prior existing oil and gas development, an underground facility owner shall advise the excavator of the activity, and an excavator shall proceed in accordance with subsection (8). An excavator who proceeds in accordance with subsection (8) is not responsible for damages to an underground facility that cannot be located by the underground facility owner. After a locate is complete, the excavator is responsible for preserving the markings.
(6) If an excavator discovers an underground facility that has not been located and marked, the excavator shall stop excavating in the vicinity of the facility and notify the underground facility owner or the notification center.
(7) An underground facility owner may attempt to identify the location of a private underground facility connected to the owner's facility, but the underground facility owner is not liable for the accuracy of the locate.
(8) The act of obtaining information as required by this part does not excuse an excavator making any excavation from doing so in a careful and prudent manner or excuse the excavator from liability for any damage or injury resulting from the excavator's negligence.
(9) If an excavator makes an agricultural locate request for soil probing or testing, new underground facilities have not been buried or placed in the area encompassed by the locate, and the request duplicates a locate and mark completed in the last 12 months, the excavation work limitations in subsection (1) do not apply. The excavator shall provide the duplicate locate and mark information to the notification center prior to excavation, and a new locate and mark may be required.
History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 180, L. 1971; R.C.M. 1947, 32-4803(part); amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 43, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 286, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 179, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 15, Ch. 326, L. 2017.