SDCL § 49-41B-23: Waiver of compliance with chapter on grounds of urgency, disaster, or civil disorder.

The Public Utilities Commission may waive compliance with and provisions of this chapter if the utility or person submitting an application pursuant to the chapter demonstrates to the commission at a public hearing that an immediate, urgent need for a facility or an associated facility exists and that the utility or person submitting the application did not have knowledge that a need for the facility existed sufficiently in advance to fully comply with the provisions of this chapter. The commission may waive compliance with any of the provisions of this chapter upon receipt of notice by a utility or person that a facility, or an associated facility, has been damaged or destroyed as a result of fire, flood, or other natural disaster, or as a result of insurrection, war, or other civil disorder, and there exists a need for construction of a new facility, or the relation of a previously existing facility or associated facility in order to promote the public health, safety or welfare.