Montana Title 69. Public Utilities and Carriers § 69-4-525. Underground facilities damage--underground facility owner civil penalties

(1) Except as provided in 69-4-529(3), within 14 days of receiving an incident report in accordance with subsection (2), the department shall issue a civil penalty in accordance with this section.

(2) If an incident is reported because a locate and mark was not properly completed or if the locate and marks provided were not reasonably accurate for locatable underground facilities, the underground facility owner shall be assessed a civil penalty in accordance with subsections (3) and (4).

(3) Except as provided in subsection (5), if the incident involves an underground facility that is not a jurisdictional pipeline, the civil penalty is the greater of $50 or twice the last civil penalty issued to the underground facility owner, not to exceed $10,000.

(4) Except as provided in subsection (5), if the incident involves an underground facility that is a jurisdictional pipeline, the civil penalty is the greater of $100 or three times the last civil penalty issued to the underground facility owner, not to exceed $25,000.

(5) If an underground facility owner is not a member of a notification center pursuant to 69-4-502(3), the penalties included in subsections (3) and (4) double.