A. A person owning or operating an underground facility shall, upon the request of a person intending to commence an excavation and upon advance notice, locate and mark on the surface the actual horizontal location, within eighteen inches by some means of location, of the underground facilities in or near the area of the excavation so as to enable the person engaged in excavation work to locate the facilities in advance of and during the excavation work.

B. If the owner or operator of the underground facility finds that the owner or operator has no underground facilities in the proposed area of excavation, the owner or operator shall provide a positive response and, at the option of the owner or operator of the underground facility mark the area as "Clear" or "No Underground Facilities" in the appropriate color code as specified in Section 62-14-5.1 NMSA 1978.

C. If the owner or operator fails to correctly mark the underground facility after being given advance notice and such failure to correctly mark the facility results in additional costs to the person doing the excavating, then the owner or operator shall reimburse the person engaging in the excavation for the reasonable costs incurred.

D. An owner of an underground facility shall not move or obliterate markings made pursuant to Chapter 62, Article 14 NMSA 1978 or fabricate markings in an unmarked location for the purpose of concealing or avoiding liability for a violation of or noncompliance with the provisions of Chapter 62, Article 14 NMSA 1978.

History: 1953 Comp., § 12-32-5, enacted by Laws 1973, ch. 252, § 5; 1987, ch. 156, § 5; 2001, ch. 150, § 3; 2011, ch. 103, § 4; 2013, ch. 90, § 2.

The 2013 amendment, effective June 14, 2013, required owners or operators to provide a positive response if they have no underground facilities in the area of excavation; and in Subsection B, after "the owner or operator shall", deleted "contact the appropriate one call notification center or mark" and added "provide a positive response and, at the option of the owner of the underground facility, mark the area as 'Clear' or 'No Underground Facilities'", and after "NMSA 1978", deleted "marking the area as 'Clear' or 'No Underground Facilities'. If the area is not marked 'Clear' or 'No Underground Facilities', the excavator shall contact the one-call notification system operating in the region in order to verify the area as 'Clear' or 'No Underground Facilities''.

The 2011 amendment, effective June 17, 2011, required excavators to contact the regional one-call notification system if an area is not marked as "Clear" or "No Underground Facilities" to verify the status of the area.

The 2001 amendment, effective July 1, 2001, inserted Subsections B and D, redesignating former Subsection B as present Subsection C and deleted "reasonable" preceding "advance notice" in Subsections A and C.

The 1987 amendment, effective June 19, 1987, designated the former provisions as set out in the main pamphlet as Subsection A; in Subsection A, substituted "an underground facility" for "pipeline or underground utility line" both places it appears and "locate and mark on the surface the actual horizontal location within twelve inches by some" for "mark by some reasonable and customary" near the middle; added Subsection B; and made minor changes in language throughout the section.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 61 Am. Jur. 2d Pipelines § 49.