Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has announced an investigation seeking information about how public utility companies and owners of underground facilities are complying with state laws.

In her announcement Wednesday, Nov. 5, Hanaway says her office is investigating whether underground facility owners are accurately locating and marking their buried infrastructure within two working days of receiving notice from the Missouri 811 hotline of an excavator’s intent to dig in the area. The attorney general’s office is asking Missouri 811 to produce complaints, tickets, and reports concerning facility owners believed to have repeatedly failed to comply with the requirements of the Underground Facility Safety and Damage Prevention Act.

Hanaway is asking homeowners and professional contractors to report underground facility owners who fail to property or promptly locate underground facilities to submitting a complaint to the attorney general’s office. Find the complaint form by clicking this link.

Hanaway’s probe comes nearly seven months after an explosion in Lexington destroyed a home and claimed the life of a five-year-old boy, while injuring two others. The explosion occurred hours after a contractor installing fiber-optic cable struck a gas line. A dozen lawsuits stemming from the explosion have been filed in Lafayette County and have since been transferred to Saline County. Several of those suits have motions pending that seek a change of venue to Jackson County.