OZARK -- Members of the Arkansas congressional delegation who were represented at a public meeting regarding plans for a power transmission line to send wind-generated power from Oklahoma to Tennessee have not taken a stand on the issue.
Representatives for Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor and Republican 4th District U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton sat in on a meeting Thursday at Arkansas Tech University in Ozark that was attended by about 120 people. The meeting was held to provide information about Clean Line Energy Partners' plans to run a power transmission line through Crawford, Franklin and Johnson counties on its way across the state.
Clean Line is proposing to build a 700-mile line to transmit high-voltage, direct current, wind-generated power from wind farms in the Oklahoma panhandle, through Arkansas, into Tennessee and the South.
"Clean Line has already been to this campus and provided their version of the truth," said the meeting's host, state Rep. Bill Gossage, R-Ozark. "We are here tonight to provide our version of the truth."
Cotton's representative, Lesley Nelms, said Cotton was concerned about residents' fears that Clean Line could obtain the power of eminent domain to acquire the necessary right of way for the power line and that he had been contacted by several constituents.
She said Cotton was gathering information about the issue but would not comment until after the release sometime during the fourth quarter of this year of a draft environmental impact statement being completed for the U.S. Department of Energy on the proposed power transmission line project.
"That's when the congressman will comment, during the comment period," Nelms said.
A 30-day comment period will follow the release of the draft statement, according to federal records.
Stephen Lehrman, senior legislative assistant for Pryor, said the senator has not taken a position on the Clean Line proposal but, like Cotton, was gathering information on the issue. Lehrman said he was in western Arkansas all day Thursday talking with people about the proposed power line.
"Sen. Pryor stands with you," he said.
Clean Line Executive Vice President Mario Hurtado told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last week that Clean Line could acquire the power of eminent domain through the Energy Department and the Southwestern Power Administration. He said the company would use the power to fill in the gaps in the line route that it could not obtain through negotiating with landowners.
According to the Energy Department's website, Clean Line applied in 2010 for the department's participation in the power line project under Section 1222 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
The department is considering the request, pending release of the final environmental impact statement, which is expected to be early next year, according to the website.
Section 1222 of the act says the department, acting through the Southwestern Power Administration or Western Area Power Administration, "has the authority to design, develop, construct, operate, own, or participate with other entities in designing, developing, constructing, operating or owning power transmission facilities," according to the department's website.
Some people at Thursday's meeting said they were not satisfied that the congressional members were waiting to take a stand. By the time the comment period begins, federal officials will have made up their minds on whether the government will join with Clean Line on the transmission line project, said Joel Dyer of Dyer.
Dyer said the members of Arkansas' congressional delegation should contact the Energy Department and urge officials to reject Clean Line's application.
Another man at Thursday's meeting, Larry Thomas, said that if the Senate candidates don't come out with a position on the Clean Line proposal before the Nov. 4 election, voters should remember that when they go to the polls.
After a request to the Arkansas Public Service Commission to be designated an Arkansas utility was rejected because Clean Line serves no Arkansas power customers, Clean Line proposed to build a converter station in Arkansas to deliver power to state customers. Being designated a utility in Arkansas would have given it the power of eminent domain to obtain land for the transmission line.
So far, company representatives have been concentrating on negotiating with landowners along the potential line routes for rights to their property, according to company officials and residents at Thursday's meeting.
One landowner, Charles Fimple of Van Buren, said Thursday that he had just enough room on his 10 acres of land in the Rudy area on which to build a home but would be unable to use the land at all if the power line is built through it.
NW News on 08/30/2014