2023 Texas Statutes › Utilities Code › Title 5 - Provisions Affecting the Operation of Utility Facilities › Chapter 251 - Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety › Subchapter A. General Provisions › Section 251.002. Definitions

Sec. 251.002.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:
(1)  "Class A underground facility" means an underground facility that is used to produce, store, convey, transmit, or distribute:
(A)  electrical energy;
(B)  natural or synthetic gas;
(C)  petroleum or petroleum products;
(D)  steam;
(E)  any form of telecommunications service, including voice, data, video, or optical transmission, or cable television service;  or
(F)  any other liquid, material, or product not defined as a Class B underground facility.
(2)  "Class B underground facility" means an underground facility that is used to produce, store, convey, transmit, or distribute:
(A)  water;
(B)  slurry;  or
(C)  sewage.
(3)  "Corporation" means the Texas Underground Facility Notification Corporation.
(4)  "Damage" means:
(A)  the defacing, scraping, displacement, penetration, destruction, or partial or complete severance of an underground facility or of any protective coating, housing, or other protective device of an underground facility;
(B)  the weakening of structural or lateral support of an underground facility;  or
(C)  the failure to properly replace the backfill covering an underground facility.
(5)  "Excavate" means to use explosives or a motor, engine, hydraulic or pneumatically powered tool, or other mechanized equipment of any kind and includes auguring, backfilling, boring, compressing, digging, ditching, drilling, dragging, dredging, grading, mechanical probing, plowing-in, pulling-in, ripping, scraping, trenching, and tunneling to remove or otherwise disturb soil to a depth of 16 or more inches.
(6)  "Excavator" means a person that excavates or intends to excavate in this state.
(7)  "Exploration and production underground facility" means an underground facility used by a person producing gas or oil, or both, for the production of that gas or oil, including facilities used for field separation, treatment, gathering, or storage of gas or oil.
(8)  "High speed data transmission" means a method of data transmission that does not include facsimile or voice transmission.
(9)  "Legal holiday" means a holiday specified as a legal holiday by Subchapter B, Chapter 662, Government Code.
(10)  "Mechanized equipment" means equipment operated by mechanical power, including a trencher, bulldozer, power shovel, auger, backhoe, scraper, drill, cable or pipe plow, and other equipment used to plow in or pull in cable or pipe.
(11)  "Operator" means a person that operates an underground facility.
(12)  "Secured facility" means a parcel of land used for commercial or industrial purposes that is surrounded entirely by a fence or other means of preventing access, including a fence with one or more gates that are locked at all times or monitored by an individual who can prevent unauthorized access.
(13)  "Underground facility" means a line, cable, pipeline system, conduit, or structure that is located partially or totally underground and that is used to produce, store, convey, transmit, or distribute telecommunications, electricity, gas, water, sewage, steam, or liquids such as petroleum, petroleum products, or hazardous liquids.
(14)  "Saturday notification" means a notice of intent to excavate provided by an excavator to a notification center on a Saturday before 11:59 a.m.
(15)  "Violation" means a violation of Section 251.151, 251.152, or 251.159.
Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 62, Sec. 18.17(a), eff. Sept. 1, 1999.