479B.4 Application for permit — informational meeting — notice.

A pipeline company doing business in this state shall file a verified petition with the board asking for a permit to construct, maintain, and operate a new pipeline along, over, or across the public or private highways, grounds, waters, and streams of any kind in this state. Any pipeline company now owning or operating a pipeline or underground storage facility in this state shall be issued a permit by the board upon supplying the information as provided for in section 479B.5, subsections 1 through 5, and meeting the requirements of section 479B.13.

A pipeline company doing business in this state and proposing to store hazardous liquid underground within this state shall file with the board a verified petition asking for a permit to construct, maintain, and operate facilities for the underground storage of hazardous liquid which includes the construction, placement, maintenance, and operation of machinery, appliances, fixtures, wells, pipelines, and stations necessary for the construction, maintenance, and operation of the underground storage facilities.

The pipeline company shall hold informational meetings in each county in which real property or property rights will be affected at least thirty days prior to filing the petition for a new pipeline. A member of the board, or a person designated by the board, shall serve as the presiding officer at each meeting and present an agenda for the meeting which shall include a summary of the legal rights of the affected landowners. No formal record of the meeting shall be required. The meeting shall be held at a location reasonably accessible to all persons who may be affected by granting the permit.

The pipeline company seeking the permit for a new pipeline shall give notice of the informational meeting to each landowner affected by the proposed project and each person in possession of or residing on the property. For the purposes of the informational meeting, “landowner” means a person listed on the tax assessment rolls as responsible for the payment of real estate taxes imposed on the property and “pipeline” means a line transporting a hazardous liquid under pressure in excess of one hundred fifty pounds per square inch and extending a distance of not less than five miles or having a future anticipated extension of an overall distance of five miles.

The notice shall set forth the following: the name of the applicant, the applicant’s principal place of business, the general description and purpose of the proposed project, the general nature of the right-of-way desired, a map showing the route or location of the proposed project, that the landowner has a right to be present at the meeting and to file objections with the board, and a designation of the time and place of the meeting. The notice shall be served by certified mail with return receipt requested not less than thirty days previous to the time set for the meeting, and shall be published once in a newspaper of general circulation in the county. The publication shall be considered notice to landowners whose residence is not known and to each person in possession of or residing on the property provided a good faith effort to notify can be demonstrated by the pipeline company.

A pipeline company seeking rights under this chapter shall not negotiate or purchase an easement or other interest in land in a county known to be affected by the proposed project prior to the informational meeting.

95 Acts, ch 192, §31; 2018 Acts, ch 1160, §28

Referred to in §479B.15

Unnumbered paragraph 5 amended