DES MOINES – A Franklin county farmer has been ordered by a judge to pay a $5,000 fine for unauthorized digging that ruptured two natural gas lines and threatened gas service to nearby towns.
District Court Judge James M. Drew ordered Monday that Roy E. Plagge, of Latimer, pay a $5,000 civil penalty and permanently enjoined Plagge from violating the One Call law.
According to Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller’s lawsuit, on September 22, 2014, the defendant conducted an excavation to install drainage tile in rural Franklin County, without first contacting the Iowa One Call notification center and, thereby, failed to provide notice to operators of underground facilities. During the excavation, the defendant’s tiling equipment hit and damaged in two locations a four-inch diameter natural gas pipeline. The damage resulted in leaking natural gas but no explosion. The defendant notified the owner of the pipeline, Northern Natural Gas of the damaged pipeline. Northern Natural Gas, the Franklin County Sheriff, and the local fire department dispatched emergency response staff to the site. During pipeline repairs, Northern Natural Gas used natural gas bottle trucks to maintain service in Chapin, Rockwell, and Sheffield.