An administrative law judge with the Arkansas Public Service Commission issued an order Monday removing three of the six routes Southwestern Electric Power Co. originally proposed for a high-voltage transmission line that would run through Benton and Carroll counties.
Judge Connie Griffin granted a motion filed Thursday by Thomas and Barbara Reinsvold asking that routes 62, 86 and 91 be removed from consideration.
The three routes go over an “undisturbed” part of Beaver Lake in the Indian Creek area, according to a July 10 letter from Randy Hathaway, deputy district engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to the commission.
The Corps of Engineers won’t make land available for the transmission line over the lake “because other practical alternatives are available,” Hathaway wrote. Eminent domain doesn’t apply to federal property, he noted in the letter.
The Reinsvolds own property in the Indian Creek area.
After receiving Hathaway’s letter, the electric company filed testimony July 19 indicating it wanted to remove those three routes from consideration.
SWEPCO applied with the commission April 3 to build the 345-kilovolt electric line, which would be 46 miles to 59 miles long depending on the route chosen.
The line is necessary to meet growing electricity needs in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri, according to SWEPCO. Other companies would be able to use electricity that is transported by the line.
A hearing on the line will be held in Little Rock beginning Aug. 26.
Thousands of public comments have been filed by people opposing the transmission line.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 08/13/2013