The Arkansas Public Service Commission made an "arbitrary and unreasonable" decision when it approved the route for a proposed high-voltage power line through Northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri, according to a filing Tuesday with the commission.
Save the Ozarks, a group based in Eureka Springs, opposes a plan by Southwestern Electric Power Co. to build a 56-mile long transmission line through the Ozark Mountains.
Pat Costner, director of Save the Ozarks, said the group is asking the commission to deny SWEPCO's application in its entirety. Costner said the facilities aren't needed. Also, if constructed, the line would cause environmental and economic harm to the area, she said.
According to SWEPCO's initial filing with the commission April 3, "These proposed facilities are intended to meet the additional transmission capacity of the growing north Arkansas and south Missouri area."
Six towers 130 feet to 160 feet high would be needed every mile to support the 345-kilovolt power line, according to SWEPCO's proposal. A 150-foot-wide right of way also would be required along the route.
The filing Tuesday was a petition for rehearing on the commission's decision approving Route 109 for the transmission line. Save the Ozarks wants the commission to reverse its decision.
On Jan. 17, Connie Griffin, an administrative law judge with the commission, approved Route 109 as the only reasonable route based on residential and "aesthetic impact," and the three-member commission accepted her ruling as its decision.
In Tuesday's petition, Mick Harrison of Bloomington, Ind., the attorney for Save the Ozarks, wrote that the approval of Route 109 was contrary to Arkansas Code Annotated 23-18-519(b)(4) because SWEPCO wasn't required to obtain and provide relevant environmental permits to the commission.
Harrison cited other issues including what he said were omissions in SWEPCO's environmental impact study.
SWEPCO filed a request for a rehearing Friday asking the commission to reconsider the company's preferred Route 33, which Griffin had deemed "unreasonable." That 49-mile route goes through Gateway and Garfield and near Pea Ridge National Military Park.
SWEPCO asked the commission to reconsider the finding that Route 33 is unreasonable or consider it reasonable if "minor deviations in the route" are made. That could entail reopening the proceedings to hear more testimony, according to the filing.
The commission held a weeklong hearing about the proposal in August in Little Rock.
About 25 miles of Route 109 are in Missouri, which means regulatory approval from that state would be necessary before construction could begin. Three bills have been filed in the Missouri Legislature to stop the power line construction there.
Peter Main, a spokesman for SWEPCO, said the company has had lobbyists in Jefferson City, Mo., to talk to legislators there.
"We are continuing our discussions with Missouri stakeholders to provide information and answer questions about the project," Main said via email.
Thousands of public comments have been made by people in Northwest Arkansas objecting to the power line.
The commission has 30 days to consider the recent petitions from SWEPCO and Save the Ozarks. If the petitions are rejected, opponents would have another 30 days to file an appeal with the Arkansas Court of Appeals, said John Bethel, executive director of the commission.
Other companies will be able to use electricity from the proposed line, not just SWEPCO, Main said.
Three routes initially proposed were eliminated because they went over an "undisturbed" part of Beaver Lake and would have required easements from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. That left Routes 33, 108 and 109.
Griffin noted in her order that Route 109, which is estimated to cost $102.8 million, wasn't the one preferred by SWEPCO. Route 108 was the longest and most expensive alternative at 59 miles and $117.4 million.
SWEPCO is required to build transmission projects within its service area if the Southwest Power Pool determines they are necessary, said David Matthews of Rogers, the company's attorney.
The pool is a regional transmission organization that answers to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. It is responsible for planning electrical transmission needs for 6 million households in nine states.
NW News on 03/19/2014