WASHINGTON -- Arkansas' governor and Public Service Commission would get final say over the route of a proposed 7,000-mile electric transmission project, under legislation filed Thursday by the state's two U.S. senators.
Houston-based Clean Line Energy Partners wants to build the line to transmit high-voltage, direct-current, wind-generated power. Originating in the Oklahoma Panhandle, the line would stretch across Arkansas north of Interstate 40 and into Tennessee. The power -- up to 3,500 megawatts -- would be used across the Southeast to provide energy for millions of homes each year, including 160,000 in Arkansas.
The U.S. Department of Energy is considering the proposal under Section 1222 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which gave it authority to work with private companies to design, develop and operate electric power transmission facilities without state input. The agency also can grant eminent domain to take private land to build the transmission line.
The Assuring Private Property Rights Over Vast Access to Lands Act, or APPROVAL Act, filed by U.S. Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton, prohibits the department from using eminent domain -- the right of a government to take private property, with payment, for public use -- for such projects unless both a state's governor and its public service commission agree. The bill also requires that such transmission projects run through federal land if possible.
Boozman, a Republican from Rogers, said his constituents are frustrated that the state didn't get a say in the line's route.
"Historically, states have always had a voice in the permitting process, the location, the facilities, transmission, things having to do with electricity," he said. "Instead of it being under state control exclusively, as it has in the past, we have this situation where they simply don't have a voice."
Cotton, a Republican from Dardanelle, is concerned about the federal government having broad eminent domain authority, his staff said.
"Arkansans should have a say in any decision that affects our land," Cotton said in a statement. "The APPROVAL act will rightly empower Arkansans and preserve the Founding Fathers vision of states' rights."
Clean Line Energy Partners co-founder Mario Hurtado said by phone that the company has worked with the delegation of the three states affected by the project for years, and will continue to do so.
"We're determined to move forward with the project and we'll do that on the basis of whatever the process is that we are subject to," he said.
Hundreds of Arkansans already have submitted comments to the U.S. Energy Department, citing concerns about how the easements will affect their property value, their health and their view. Only a handful of people supported the construction, saying they were excited about jobs or renewable energy. The comment period ends in mid-April.
Hurtado said the company recognizes the concerns and will propose adjustments based on its interactions with landowners.
He said the company intends to talk with affected landowners about purchasing the easements, in some cases above market value, rather than resort to eminent domain. The process will start in earnest when a final route is decided, he said.
"Our focus is on really minimizing any need for eminent domain to ever be exercised. Our view is that that is an absolute last resort," Hurtado said. "No matter what the process is for the acquisition of these easements, people are always entitled to due process and they are always entitled to market value for payment of those easements. We're willing to pay more than that, and want to do that."
Boozman said that while eminent domain is necessary for public works projects, having the state review it legitimizes the process.
"The governor, the public utilities, something of that nature need to be involved," he said. "The state needs to have a major influence in the route."
Gov. Asa Hutchinson's spokesman J.R. Davis said Hutchinson is studying the issue.
"The governor is continuing to review the location of the line and any benefit that it would bring to Arkansas," Davis said.
Hurtado said the company pursued approval through the affected states and through the federal government.
"We've now invested well over $10 million and many years of effort to comply with the process that's set up under the federal rules under 1222," he said. "We'd like to get to a conclusion on that process."
In 2011, the Arkansas Public Service Commission said state law doesn't allow the company to operate as a public utility in the state because the plan didn't provide energy to Arkansans at the time.
The company later updated its plans so that Arkansas could receive power.
The Tennessee Regulatory Authority and Oklahoma Corporation Commission have granted that authority to the company. In August, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the company to sell transmission capacity to potential utility customers.
If the line is approved, the company would begin construction in 2016 and would start moving power in 2018. Clean Line Energy Partners has pledged to purchase all of the wire for the project from General Cable in Malvern.
Metro on 02/13/2015