Agenda - Council - 06/23/1987 - Laserfiche WebLink

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soon as possible. Information is needed before June 12, if possible. By way of further explanation, the recently enacted Minnesota Pipeline Safety Act requires the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board to promulgate rules requiring pipeline operators to submit to the EQB information on the preferred route for any new proposed pipeline construction (as well as evidence of consideration of alternative routes) and to provide notice of proposed pipeline routes to local units of 9overnment as well as to owners and lessees of property along the routes being considered. The EQB is also required to hold public hearings regarding the siting of such routes. The new law also establishes a Notification Center which is to provide services statewide to local government in the following manner: in cooperaticn with participating local governments, the center is to provide a master list, by county, of pipeline operators in that county who participate in the notification center, plus phone numbers and mailing address for the notification center. Excavators notify the center at least 48 hours before beginning excavation. That information is to be immediately transmitted to pipeline operators who must locate and mark the location of pipeline sections in the excavation area. The state law requires pipeline operators to file a detailed pipeline map with Director of the Minnesota Office of Pipeline Safety as well as with the Minnesota Commissioner of Transportation showing the location and approximate depth of pipelines in the state. All such maps must be filed before new pipelines are in operation and before construction where routes have been changed. Simultaneously, operators are required to file an emergency response plan with the Director of the Minnesota Office of Pipeline Safety as well as with the Director of Emergency Services or sheriff in every county traversed by the pipeline. In the case of pipeline testing, operators are required to notify local governments of such tests at least 48 hours before they are are conducted. Other information to be provided to the Director and sheriffs' offices includes the nature of the types of products carried by the pipeline as well as a material safety data sheet for each product carried in the line. Copies of such MSDA's are to be transmitted to "appropriate emergency responders." In preparing state mandated local government emergency response plans, the new state law also requires cities with pipelines within their jurisdiction to consult with pipeline owners or operators to prepare such plans. Counties are required to coordinate such planning for other local governments within the county.