Wisconsin regulators have fined a Delaware contractor more than $40,000 for violating state pipeline safety rules after excavators punctured a high-pressure gas line in a residential area of Marathon County.
According to a Public Service Commission investigation, Sunnyworld LLC was drilling near an apartment complex in Weston on Sept. 11, 2019, when a boring tool struck a TC Energy gas line.
No one was injured, but firefighters had to evacuate nearby homes while utility workers shut off the pipeline.
The PSC determined that TC Energy marked the pipeline location 13 days earlier with flags mounted on six-foot plastic poles and warned the contractor to stay at least 25 feet away. Sunnyworld claimed there were no flags or markings when its workers arrived.