CenturyLink has been ordered to pay a $115,500.00 civil penalty for failing to comply with Arizona laws.
According to the Arizona Corporation Commission, CentryLink neglected to and mark its infrastructure locations for over a year as required by law when third parties, such as construction crews and excavators, request for identification of the location of the lines so they can avoid cutting or damaging the infrastructure with their equipment.
The Arizona Corporation Commission’s Safety Division, beginning in May of 2019, started receiving a high volume of complaints about CenturyLink’s failure to comply with Arizona Blue Stake Law.
In 1974, “Arizona Blue Stake” was established as a call center so underground facility owners and operators would be notified when anyone was planning to dig so they could mark their facilities in advance, in accordance with Arizona Revised Statute § 40-360.21-32. This law pertains to the entire State of Arizona and was often referred as the “Blue Stake Law”. The name Blue Stake comes from years past, when facility operators would use blue wooded stakes, driven into the ground, with a specific color painted on the tops of them. In 2005, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) designated 811 as the national number to call before any type of digging so underground facilities could be located and marked. – Arizona Corporation Commission
On thousands of occasions, after request by excavators, CenturyLink was failing to mark its underground facilities in the two-day time-frame required by the law. At the July 2019 Open Meeting, the Safety Division was directed to prepare an Order to Show Cause against CenturyLink for the violations.
Safety Division staff worked closely with CenturyLink since that time through monthly meetings, according to the Arizona Corporation Commission, and in doing so has been able to reduce the backlog of locate tickets and therefore the Order to Show Cause was not filed. Instead, the company and the Commission have agreed to a regular monitoring of its performance of its compliance with Arizona Blue Stake Law and ordered CenturyLink to pay a civil penalty of $115,500.00. The fine will be paid into the Arizona General Fund.