Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.13 – Excavation and demolition; prohibitions
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.13
- Commissioner: means the commissioner of conservation. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
- Demolisher: means any person engaged in the act of demolishing as defined in Paragraph (2) of this Section. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
- Demolition: means the total or partial wrecking, razing, rendering, moving, or removing of any building or structure, movable or immovable. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
- Emergency: means any crisis situation which poses an imminent threat or danger to life, health, or property, which requires immediate action, if such action is taken. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
- excavate: means any operation causing movement or removal of earth, rock, or other materials in or on the ground or submerged in a marine environment that could reasonably result in damage to underground or submerged utilities or facilities by the use of powered or mechanical or manual means, including but not limited to pile driving, digging, blasting, augering, boring, back filling, dredging, compaction, plowing-in, trenching, ditching, tunneling, land-leveling, grading, and mechanical probing. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
- Excavator: means any person who engages in excavation operations. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
- Operator: means any person who owns or operates a public or private underground facility or utility which furnishes a service or material or stores, transports, or transmits electric energy, steam, oil, gases, natural gas, gas, mixture of gases, petroleum, petroleum products, hazardous or flammable fluids, toxic or corrosive fluids/gases, including telephone or telegraph system, fiber optic electronic communication systems, or water or water systems, or drainage, sewer systems, or traffic control systems or other items of like nature. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
- Person: means an individual, firm, partnership, association, limited liability company, corporation, joint venture, municipality, governmental agency, political subdivision, or agent of the state or any legal representative thereof. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
- Pipeline: means all intrastate and interstate pipeline facilities defined by Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
- Regional notification center: means any one of the following:
(a) An entity designated as nonprofit by the Internal Revenue Service under Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code and which is organized to protect its members from damage and is certified by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections in accordance with this Part. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
- Underground facility or utility: means any pipe, conduit, duct, wire, cable, valve, line, fiber optic equipment, or other structure which is buried or placed below ground or submerged for use in connection with storage, conveyance, transmission, or protection of electronics communication system, telephone or telegraph system, or fiber optic, electric energy, oil, natural gas, gas, gases, steam, mixture of gases, petroleum, petroleum products, hazardous or flammable fluids/gases, toxic or corrosive fluids/gases, hazardous fluids/gases, or other substances of like nature or water or water systems, sewer systems or traffic, drainage control systems, or other items of like nature. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1749.12
A. Except as provided in this Section, no person shall excavate or demolish in any street, highway, public place, or servitude of any operator, or near the location of an underground facility or utility, or on the premises of a customer served by an underground facility or utility without having first ascertained, in the manner prescribed in Subsection B of this Section, the specific location as provided in La. Rev. Stat. 40:1749.14(D) of all underground facilities or utilities in the area which would be affected by the proposed excavation or demolition. The marking of an operator’s facility or utility shall be provided for excavation or demolition purposes only.
B.(1) Except as provided in La. Rev. Stat. 40:1749.15, prior to any excavation or demolition, each excavator or demolisher shall serve telephonic or electronic notice of the intent to excavate or demolish to the regional notification center or centers serving the area in which the proposed excavation or demolition is to take place. Such notice shall be given to the notification center at least forty-eight hours, but not more than one hundred twenty hours, excluding weekends and holidays, in advance of the commencement of any excavation or demolition activity. Furthermore, excavation or demolition activities shall commence not more than one hundred twenty hours past the mark-by time. Holidays shall consist of the following: New Year’s Day; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; Good Friday; Memorial Day; Independence Day; Labor Day; Thanksgiving Day; Christmas Eve; and Christmas Day.
(2) This notice shall contain the name, address, and telephone number of the person filing the notice of intent, and, if different, the person responsible for the excavation or demolition, the starting date, anticipated duration, and description of the specific type of excavation or demolition operation to be conducted, the specific location of the proposed excavation or demolition and a statement as to whether directional boring or explosives are to be used. If the excavation or demolition is part of a larger project, the notice shall be confined to the actual area of proposed excavation or demolition that will occur during the twenty-day time period under La. Rev. Stat. 40:1749.14(C).
(3) Telephonic notice shall be recorded on tape or stored into an electronic data bank by the regional notification center and a record of the notice shall be retained for a three-year period from the date of notification. A record of an electronic notice shall also be retained by the regional notification center for a three-year period from the date of notification.
(4) The excavator or demolisher shall provide the specific location for excavation or demolition with either telephonic or electronic notice. Telephonic notice shall require the excavator or demolisher to physically mark the proposed route or area of excavation or demolition using white paint, flags, stakes, or similar means under American Public Works Association guidelines prior to submitting notice.
(5) The excavator or demolisher shall wait at least forty-eight hours, beginning at 7:00 a.m. on the next working day, following notification, unless mutually agreed upon and documented by the excavator and operator to extend such time, before commencing any excavation or demolition activity, except in the case of an emergency as defined in the provisions of this Part or if informed by the regional notification center that no operators are to be notified. However, if no agreement for an extension of time can be reached between the excavator and the operator and the excavation or demolition activity could impact a pipeline located on or in water, upon request by the operator, the commissioner may delay the mark-by time prior to the commencement of any excavation or demolition activity in order to allow for the accurate marking of such pipeline.
C. This Part shall not apply to activities by operators or land owners excavating their own underground utilities or facilities on their own property or operators’ exclusive right-of-way provided there is no encroachment on the rights-of-way of any operator.
D. For purposes of this Section, any physical markings or electronic drawings identifying a specific location as provided for in Subsection B of this Section shall not exceed the actual area of excavation or demolition.
E. Repealed by Acts 2010, No. 249, §2, eff. Sept. 1, 2010.
Acts 1988, No. 923, §1; Acts 1992, No. 883, §1; Acts 1997, No. 1050, §1, eff. July 11, 1997; Acts 1999, No. 506, §1, eff. June 29, 1999; Acts 2006, No. 428, §1, eff. June 15, 2006; Acts 2010, No. 249, §§1, 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2010; Acts 2011, No. 38, §1, eff. Oct. 1, 2011; Acts 2014, No. 203, §1; Acts 2016, No. 245, §1, eff. May 26, 2016; Acts 2019, No. 344, §1; Acts 2021, No. 9, §1, eff. Jan. 2, 2022; Acts 2022, No. 52, §1; Acts 2023, No. 344, §1.