Opinion ID: 1726853
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Underground Electrical Powerline

Text: OPPD maintains a buried, 8,000-volt, three-phase powerline in a public utility easement along portions of the east side of 120th Street in Omaha. The installation consists of three individual phase cables and one neutral cable, each housed in unmarked PVC conduit approximately 3 inches in diameter. The conduits are buried 3 to 4 feet below the surface of the ground. The relevant portions of the powerline along 120th Street were installed in 1980 and 1985. At the time the powerlines were installed, OPPD had an internal reference drawing which provided design specifications on buried cable trenches. That standard provided that when specified by an OPPD design engineer, a warning or identifying tape may be buried 1 foot below the surface of the ground directly above the buried powerlines. The tape was described as a thin piece of plastic with some type of verbiage indicating the presence of a buried cable below. Testimony indicated that the decision on whether to specify the identifying tape is discretionary with OPPD design engineers. When asked the circumstances in which such specification would be made, an OPPD representative testified: This particular cable was located in public right away. [sic] The people digging in those types of facilities are, generally, contractors and people in the business. If we were to go across private property, like, the homeowners', we never called in to get a locate. The engineer would have probably specified it or might have specified if he thought it was necessary. A buried-cable industry standard also existed at the time the powerlines were installed. The relevant standards for the buried powerlines in question were the 1977 and 1984 editions of the American National Standards Institute's National Electrical Safety Code. Both standards specified, among other things, the minimum horizontal clearances between cables and minimum burial depth. However, neither standard required that the conduit or sheathing contain warning markings, nor did either require that warning or identifying tape be buried with the cable.