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Meeting - July 19, 2006...
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Minutes:
CALL TO ORDER:
The legislative meeting hosted by the Utility Notification Center of Colorado was held on the 19th day of July 2006, at their offices at 16361 Table Mountain Parkway, Golden, Colorado. J.D. Maniscalco called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. and welcomed attendees to the twelfth meeting. Enforcement, membership and exemption documents were passed out. Time was provided to review the documentation presented.
ENFORCEMENT:
David Fiore noted that the document passed out at this meeting was essentially the same as previous documents. The document listed four findings identified by the enforcement group. David reviewed these four findings in some detail. David will include reference to the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act that has been proposed at the federal level. If passed, this will provide financial incentives to encourage enforcement at the state level. After discussion regarding what level of enforcement structure detail should be included in the enforcement documentation, it was agreed that these findings primarily seek agreement that enforcement is necessary as outlined in document. The details of the structure for ongoing enforcement will continue to be explored based on what has been discussed at previous meetings.
MEMBERSHIP:
J.D. presented the membership document. This document was a summary of the discussion held at previous meetings regarding membership. Bob Brandstetter noted that Tier II representatives had discussed increasing their financial participation in the process but were not willing to give up Tier II membership. He would like to see the ticket cost be the responsibility of the excavator. However excavators feel that the current system is not effective and creates additional costs associated with the number of Tier II calls that must be made. David Fiore agreed to provide some analysis of these costs to excavators to be included in the membership document. It was noted that in many instances, calls are not being made to the Tier II facility owner. J.D. asked that Bob document what he would like to see added to the membership document. J.D. stated that excavators and Tier I facility owners have made it clear that they want a true one call system. Bob felt that Tier II members would not be in favor of this document. It was noted that the document will represent findings of the membership group and consensus may not be able to be reached.
EXEMPTIONS:
A meeting was held at UNCC with CCI representatives and pipeline operators. Minutes from this meeting were distributed to the group. Dale Miller noted that the meeting was held to try to reach accommodation of the needs of the counties when maintaining roads. The consensus reached at this meeting was that an exemption for routine grading of roads up to 4 inches or hand digging up to 12 inches could be safely accommodated by the pipeline industry. No exemptions will be requested for work in the roadside ditches. These exemption depths are the same as those being requested by the landscaping industry. Natalie Shelbourn with Kinder Morgan asked that language be added to note that the depth of facilities change over time. The exemption group agreed to include this note in the exemption finding document.
CONCLUSION and NEXT MEETING:
J.D. thanked the group for participating in the process and remaining focused on the safety of the industry. The final meeting will be held Wednesday, August 9, 2006 at 9:00 a.m. at UNCC. At this meeting final votes on the findings in each area will be taken. It was agreed that anyone who attends this meeting will be able to vote. It is unlikely that consensus will be reached in all areas and the findings will make no statement about what will happen when legislative language is drafted. A request was made to include an item on the next meeting agenda to determine who will draft legislative language in each area.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:10 p.m.
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