Hundreds voice electric-line concerns

Public comment on utility proposal continues today at hearing in Rogers

About 300 people were expected to speak during a two-day public hearing in Eureka Springs on Monday and Tuesday. Almost all of them opposed a proposed 48-mile electric transmission line that would cross Carroll County.

By 4 p.m. Tuesday, 310 people had signed up to speak, and 260 of them had already spoken, said John Bethel, executive director of the Arkansas Public Service Commission. The commission stopped the meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday for a break and was expected to resume from 6 to 9 p.m.

Bethel said only one person had spoken in favor of the transmission line during the two-day hearing, and he didn’t know who that person was.

The hearing was held at Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center in Eureka Springs.

A similar hearing will be held today at Embassy Suites in Rogers. It will begin at 9 a.m., but those wishing to speak can start signing up at 8 a.m. The meeting might continue Thursday if everyone who wants to speak doesn’t get a chance Wednesday.

Southwestern Electric Power Co. applied April 3 to build a substation near Berryville and to run a 345-kilovolt power line from there to Centerton, about 48 miles away. That would require about 288 towers, averaging from 130 feet to 160 feet tall and cutting a 150-foot-wide path. The project would cost an estimated $116.7 million.

In its application, the utility stated that the transmission line and new power stationnear Berryville are necessary to meet growing demands for electricity in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri.

Six route proposals would be primarily in Carroll and Benton counties, but alternate routes could include Madison and Washington counties in Arkansas and Barry and Mc-Donald counties in Missouri.

Connie Griffin, an administrative law judge with the commission, has been presiding over the public meetings in Northwest Arkansas.

Scenic and environmental harm were among the primary concerns voiced during the meeting in Eureka Springs. Other issues were possible economic harm to the area’s tourism industry and concerns over private-property rights.

A final decision isn’t expected until after a hearingthat will begin Aug. 26 in Little Rock.

Written testimony can also be submitted at the hearings, emailed to the commission or sent by mail.

Thousands of people already have filed public comments with the commission opposing the transmission line. Forty-eight landowners filed to intervene in the process, though three have since filed motions to withdraw.

The commission isn’t bound by any of the routes proposed by the utility, Bethel said.

The commission could use a combination of the proposed routes or come up with a new route, he said.

Information on the application and subsequent filings is available on the commission’s website at apscservices.info under the section “hot topics.”

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 07/17/2013

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