Landowner Opposition Formidable Obstacle to Tx Projects
Several speakers discussed the opposition Clean Line Energy Partners has faced from landowners and regulators in its plans to connect renewable resources with urban centers via long HVDC transmission lines.
“You’re going right back to the not-in-my-backyard thing,” said Ted Thomas, chair of the Arkansas Public Service Commission. “That’s causing intense pushback. ‘My granddaddy had this land. This is our family property. I don’t want this big, honking thing coming through here. You don’t understand, this property is not for sale.’”

“Siting is difficult,” agreed Missouri Public Service Commissioner Steve Stoll. “Anytime you’re dealing with private rights and eminent domain, it’s difficult. You can say you’re helping our area by giving us the ability to sell our homes and attract business, but [the landowners] don’t see much value in it.”

While not yet ready to begin construction, Hurtado said the next big milestone isn't far off, and Clean Line has turned its focus to finding key customers.

"We've been at it for a while, and we're very close to the finish line," he said.

Clean Line has yet to announce any firm agreements with Southeast utilities for transmission. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking.

"We think that there's a time-sensitive opportunity," Hurtado said. "I'm not comfortable waiting too much longer. The sooner we can get this done, the better. There are always risks, and you want to manage that really prudently. We're already in pre-construction. The sooner we get into full-fledged construction, the better."

"Obviously, the trick is to make sure that you have capacity at the right price to the people that are actually winning the contracts in the Southeast," Hurtado said. "There's direct commercial discussions that are going on that are confidential. There are RFPs [requests for proposals], and that's still moving forward. It's part of our overall commercial discussions that we've got that are sort of focused, but they're all sort of in the works."

One potential customer, the Tennessee Valley Authority, so far hasn't shown an interest in taking transmission service from the Plains and Eastern.

TVA signed a memorandum of understanding with Clean Line in 2011, but the utility currently has no need for more energy on its system as its long-range plans show no demand growth for the next decade, said spokesman Scott Brooks.

And any older power plants being shut down by TVA are generally being replaced with natural-gas-fired generation, Brooks said.

Plains and Eastern is open to PSO or other utilities customers owning all or a portion of the transmission line, commensurate with their transmission needs. In addition, Plains and Eastern is open to PSO or other utilities managing part or all of the Plains & Eastern Project's construction.

If there is a demand for Oklahoma Panhandle wind in eastern Oklahoma, the Project's first phase could be built solely in Oklahoma. Subsequent phases could be built at a later date if market demands warranted such action.

While Plains and Eastern's efforts have been focused on HVDC transmission, other technical
solutions could be constructed in the Project's right-of-way, such as 345kV AC or 765kV AC. Plains and Eastern is open to modifying the
Project to a different technology or voltage level if it offers the best value to customers.

The Project begins near Wind Catcher's generation position in the Panhandle and the route runs within 50 miles of PSO's Tulsa North substation, the proposed interconnection point for the Wind Catcher line.  In eastern Oklahoma, there are also other potential interconnection points in PSO's service territory that are even closer to the Plains & Eastern Project's route than the Tulsa North substation and could be utilized to serve PSO load and other loads.

Furthermore, the Plains and Eastern team has received many questions from landowners and other stakeholders in Oklahoma about the Wind Catcher project. The team has been asked if Plains and Eastern can be involved or assist in the Wind Catcher project given that Plains and Eastern has a construction-ready, long-haul transmission project that runs from the Oklahoma Panhandle to the east and has acquired easements on more than 750 parcels in Oklahoma.

After being approached by representatives of PSO, Oklahoma landowners have asked the Plains and Eastern team if they should work with PSO even though they have already signed an easement with Plains and Eastern.

The power markets have evolved substantially since Plains and Eastern received its order from this Commission in the past eight years and eastern Oklahoma is now a strong delivery point for the Plains & Eastern Project. The Project could be utilized to accommodate high-voltage either direct current ("HVDC") and alternating current ("AC") transmission solutions to accomplish this interconnection in eastern Oklahoma and Plains and Eastern is willing to engage to consider either option. Mr. Hurtado stated that he would explain that Plains and Eastern is open to building a first
phase of the Project that is located solely in Oklahoma.

SPP has no plans to build new transmission
lines in the next decade, making independent transmission necessary to enable large amounts of new wind farms to be built in the Oklahoma Panhandle.

Plains and Eastern has also secured all key regulatory approvals necessary for construction on that route.

The DOE independently analyzed the proposed route and several alternative routes in its
EIS and ultimately approved a preferred route through its Record of Decision.

Plains and Eastern's careful and open approach to landowner interaction and easement acquisition established the company as a solid partner and good neighbor in Oklahoma

Many landowner conversations are on-going, and Plains and Eastern is highly confident that all right-of-way necessary to start construction could be completed in time to allow for construction to start in 2018 and an on-line date in 2020.

We heard about the valuable role agriculture plays in this region and our engineers worked to ensure typical farming practices in **INSERT COUNTY NAME HERE** County, from crops to orchards, could continue to exist within the right-of-way.

The electric utility supply of the United States is based on a sharing of facilities and energy sources for both purposes of supply and reliability. There are two transmission corridors whose final sections exist for the benefit of Sudbury, Maynard, and Concord. One begins in Medway and passes through Sherborn, Natick, Framingham, and Wayland. The second, which begins in Waltham, passes through Weston. In effect, the citizens of Medway, Sherborn, Wayland, Weston, Waltham, Framingham, and Natick have had to sacrifice some of their environment for the benefit of Sudbury.

A large group in Sudbury, Protect Sudbury, opposes this line, either overhead or underground, if built along an existing MBTA right-of-way. The group also opposes any overhead line through any route in Sudbury. If only the citizens of Wayland and Weston could have successfully opposed the construction of transmission towers in their towns that supply Sudbury! No tower, no power!

Higgins also said three different alternative energy companies were looking at locating in the Golden Triangle. He also said the Southern Cross Transmission project, a 400-mile wind energy line across the state that will end with a $300 million converter station in the Caledonia area, only needs four more land owners to approve using their property. 

WTAD wishes to issue a correction to this story. We had earlier reported that the case was being heard by the Missouri Supreme Court. That's not correct. It's being heard by the Eastern Missouri District Appeals Court. Clean Line has asked the Missouri Supreme Court to hear the case, but they have not yet ruled in the case. We regret the error.

The state regulators said they couldn’t approve of the Grain Belt Express because they felt bound by a ruling made by the western district of the state court of appeals. That court ruled that a different transmission project could not proceed because it had failed to get approval from the counties along the route. The state’s regulators said they had to comply with that ruling.

Lawlor has characterized the earlier rejection as a gross misinterpretation of state law, effectively giving county commissions the power to make final decisions on large infrastructure projects. And that, he claims, “would have a chilling effect on investment on infrastructure in Missouri. When other utilities and investors look at where they want to spend money, they will look at Missouri and see a Do Not Enter sign.
“The case is really simple: it’s who has ultimate jurisdiction over utilities? Is it the counties or the public service commission? For over 100 years, it’s been pretty clear: it’s the purview of the public service commission. But for the last few months, it’s been turned on its head.”

No person or persons, association, companies or corporations shall erect poles for the suspension of electric light, or power wires, or lay and maintain pipes, conductors, mains and conduits for any purpose whatever, through, on, under or across the public roads or highways of any county of this state, without first having obtained the assent of the county commission of such county therefor...

“(This) otherwise is not a federal project. It is a Clean Line project,” Wimpy argued. “Clean Line owns all the assets, all the benefits, and the federal government is simply participating in the project. It may sound bad, but the plaintiffs believe Clean Line is just buying the DOE’s power of eminent domain. That’s what it looks like on the ground.”

In one humorous exchange with DuBois, Marshall asked the DOJ attorney if Clean Line was a “quasi-agent” for the federal government.
“Yes. A quasi-agent with a checkbook. That’s the best kind,” DuBois said, adding that Congress intended for Section 1222 to allow the federal government to improve the nation’s energy grid by attracting private investment.
Marshall also asked DuBois if the DOE’s request for proposal to participate in the three-state energy project was the Obama administration’s way of circumventing the will of the state of Arkansas after the plan was reviewed and rejected by the Arkansas Public Service Commission (PSC).
“Was that a workaround based on what happened before at the PSC?” Marshall asked the DOE counsel.
DuBois replied that Clean Line participation in the project was in response to the DOE RFP, adding that states such as Arkansas have no authority over federal energy infrastructure projects unless it is “specifically given” by Congress.
“The statute does not give states veto power over national grid infrastructure projects,” DuBois told Judge Marshall. “The federal government has successfully shifted care of the national grid to private partners by encouraging private investment. That is what the statute is designed to do — using OPM – ‘other people’s  money.’”

But Wilson, part of the DOJ’s Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Defense Section, went back-and-forth with Judge Marshall for several minutes arguing that until property was actually condemned by Clean Line, she couldn’t say for certain what steps the DOJ would take to enforce the DOE’s right of acquisition for the three-state project.

The Arkansas landowners have asked Judge Marshall for a summary judgment to halt the project. If the court rules in the DOE’s favor, Clean Line officials have said they plan to begin construction on the project in the second half of 2017 and complete it sometime in 2020.

After the four hours of oral arguments were completed, Judge Marshall said he had planned to rule from the bench, but decided he needed more time to consider complexities of the case.
“This onion has many layers, and the federal layer onion may be the most important,” he said, adding that he would file an order as soon as possible.

‘‘(B) the applicant for a permit is a transmitting utility under this Act but does not qualify to apply for a permit or siting approval for the proposed project in a State because the applicant does not serve end-use customers in the State;

Given the short amount of time to make big changes at DOE -- Azar was, after all, picked by Chu, who himself resigned last February -- she said she mapped a timeline for tapping into existing transmission siting authorities and helping critical projects get started.
"I'm much more about where the rubber meets the road than high-level policy debates," Azar said.

She rejected the notion the controversial memo was all her doing or representative of a top-down approach.

As laid out in the memo, she also championed Texas-based Clean Line Energy's application to partner with DOE through its never-before-used authority under Section 1222 of the Energy Policy Act, which would allow a PMA with federal authority to site the line and overcome state opposition.

Emotional challenges to a project can cause projects sponsors to respond with facts, but those facts are often drowned out if the parties are unwilling to compromise. In this presentation, we will have an in-depth analysis of how to respond to exaggerated or false claims and how to manage project opposition explained with real-life case study/scenarios.