No misconduct was committed by Southwestern Electric Power Co. when it proposed building a 50-mile, high-voltage power line through the Ozark Mountains, the utility's attorney said Wednesday in a filing with the Arkansas Public Service Commission.
SWEPCO was following orders from the Southwest Power Pool, which believed in early 2013 that a new, $116 million power line was warranted to serve growing Northwest Arkansas and southeast Missouri, according to the filing by David Matthews of Rogers.
Based in Little Rock, the pool is a regional transmission organization that is mandated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure reliable supplies of power, adequate infrastructure and competitive wholesale prices of electricity in its nine-state region.
SWEPCO is required to build transmission projects within its service area if the Southwest Power Pool determines they are necessary.
SWEPCO withdrew its proposal on Dec. 30, citing a lack of need for the line, a status it said was revealed through studies conducted last year.
Save the Ozarks, a group that fought the power line for 20 months, said that wasn't good enough.
The group filed a motion with the commission on Jan. 12 asking to be declared the "prevailing party." Save the Ozarks, which is based in Eureka Springs, also wants the commission to officially deny SWEPCO's application for the power line.
Pat Costner, president of Save the Ozarks, said the group had spent more than $150,000 on attorney fees.
In Wednesday's filing, Matthews wrote that Save the Ozarks is trying to be compensated for attorney fees, but there is no precedence for the fees to be awarded.
"An award of attorney's fees as a sanction against a utility attempting to do what its regulators ... directed it to do will inevitably result in the failure of the regional transmission planning concept," according to the filing.
John Bethel, director of the commission, said he's unaware of the commission ever awarding attorney fees.
SWEPCO's filing on Wednesday also notes that Save the Ozarks has consistently argued that SWEPCO and the pool started the power line project to make money at the expense of the environment and local economy.
"[The pool] has no interest in building transmission that is not needed and receives absolutely no benefits or gains based on building transmission," according to the filing.
On April 3, 2013, SWEPCO asked the commission for permission to build the power line from Centerton to Berryville.
More than 6,000 public comments opposing the 345-kilovolt line have been lodged with the commission, citing property rights, lack of need and damage to the environment and tourism.
Six towers, each 130 feet to 160 feet high, would be needed every mile to support the power line, according to SWEPCO's proposal. A 150-foot-wide right of way also would be required along the route.
After several public meetings, a 56-mile route was approved by the commission on Jan. 17, 2014. The approved route crossed into Missouri, which would require regulatory approval from that state as well.
The commission then issued an order on June 9 saying it would reconsider whether the power line is needed and, if so, decide the best route. Six routes were initially considered.
As a result of the June 9 order, Southwest Power Pool did a "comprehensive reevaluation" and determined the project was no longer needed, according to letters included with SWEPCO's Dec. 30 commission filing.
Metro on 01/23/2015