May 14, 2003

 

 

Honorable John L. Martin, Senate Chair

Honorable Theodore Koffman, House Chair

Joint Standing Committee on Natural Resources

100 State House Station

Augusta, ME  04333

 

Re:      LD 1604, An Act to Expedite the Drilling of Private Drinking Water Wells

 

Dear Senator Martin and Representative Koffman:

 

            The Public Utilities Commission will testify in opposition to LD 1604, An Act to Expedite the Drilling of Private Drinking Water Wells.  We will be present at the work session as the Committee considers this bill.

 

The Commission’s involvement with underground facilities damage prevention began in 2000, when the Legislature gave the Commission the responsibility to enforce Maine’s so-called “Dig Safe law,” 25 M.R.S.A. § 3360-A.  Prior to 2000, Dig Safe enforcement was, for all practical purposes, non-existent.  Since 2000, the Commission has established enforcement procedures, investigated violations reported to us, and required non-compliant excavators and utilities to attend training and/or to pay a penalty.  We also launched an aggressive public education campaign that has drawn the attention of many excavators, utilities, architects and private citizens to Maine’s Dig Safe requirements for the first time.

 

In enforcing Maine’s statute, our primary goal has been to protect the safety of the public and of employees working for excavation and utility companies.  Other important goals have been to prevent service interruptions, to avoid environmental hazards, and to reduce the costs associated with damaged facilities.  While Dig Safe procedures apply to electric, telecommunications, gas, cable TV, and petroleum facilities (with alternative procedures applying to water and sewer facilities), the recent expansion of natural gas throughout Maine heightens the importance of the Dig Safe law to the safety of all members of the public. 

 

The Dig Safe law addresses a few activities – commercial forestry and borrow pit operations and cemetery excavation – differently from the standard requirements of the statute, but includes alternative procedures that ensure that those activities are highly unlikely to result in personal injury or facility damage.  Such procedures include written agreements prior to excavation within 100 feet underground facilities for special protective provisions.  LD 1604 would add well construction to the list of operations that are treated differently.

 

We oppose LD 1604 because it increases the likelihood of personal injury and facilities damage in exchange for eliminating what is a minor, easily accommodated inconvenience to excavators.  

 

The proposed well construction exemption differs from the other existing exemptions in ways that have important impacts on public safety.  The forestry industry and cemetery exemptions apply to parcels of land that are typically marked by long-term property ownership, which carries with it continuous control and knowledge of existing underground facilities locations.  Well drilling, on the other hand, occurs on small parcels of land, often newly acquired, where knowledge of underground facility location varies widely from landowner to landowner.  Even cemeteries, whose owners are more likely to be familiar with their underground facilities than well drillers or small landowners, must follow Dig Safe’s procedures one initial time and must maintain ongoing records of underground facilities – safeguards that are not required by LD 1604. 

 

            Another important difference is that LD 1604 would allow excavation as close as 25 feet to underground facilities, a much narrower margin than the 100-foot margin approved for commercial forestry excavation.

 

We see no reason to treat well construction differently than other types of private property excavation such as house or driveway construction.  Since January, 2001, we’ve had just over 100 incidents (approximately 37% electric, 47% telephone, 17% gas) spread over all 16 counties that involved Dig Safe member utility facilities on private property, at least 8 of which specifically involved well drilling or water line excavating.  We also do not view the Dig Safe procedures as being onerous.  The well driller or landowner must mark the excavation location, make a phone call to the Dig Safe organization (and a separate phone call to water and sewer companies) and must wait a maximum of three days before commencing excavation.  These procedures are a minor inconvenience when compared with the personal injury and expense that can result from damaging a gas or oil pipe or electric line.  In situations when a well has run dry and excavation must begin immediately, well drillers may follow the emergency provision of subsection 3360-A (5) and begin excavation without the three-day delay.

 

            In summary, we oppose LD 1604 because it attempts to remove a minor inconvenience while decreasing safety to the public and to underground facilities. 

 

 

                                                                        Sincerely,

 

 

                                                                        Carol MacLennan

                                                                        Maine Public Utilities Commission

 

cc:            Natural Resources Committee members

            Utilities & Energy Committee members