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Engrossed Version Senate Bill 614 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
ENGROSSED

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

Senate Bill No. 614

(By Senators Unger and Snyder)

____________

[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;

reported March 1, 2010.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact §24-2-11a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to Public Service Commission approval of the construction of high voltage transmission lines; requiring applicant to notify owners of surface real estate that lie within the preferred corridor of the proposed transmission line; and requiring the commission to act in the best interest of West Virginia customers and its citizens.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §24-2-11a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. POWERS AND DUTIES OF PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION.

§24-2-11a. Requirement for certificate of public convenience and necessity before beginning construction of high voltage transmission line; contents of application; notice; hearing; criteria for granting or denying certificate; regulations.

(a) No public utility, person or corporation shall may begin construction of a high voltage transmission line of two hundred thousand volts or over, which line is not an ordinary extension of an existing system in the usual course of business as defined by the Public Service Commission, unless and until it or he or she shall have has obtained from the Public Service Commission a certificate of public convenience and necessity approving the construction and proposed location of such the transmission line.
(b) The application for such the certificate shall be in such the form as the commission may prescribe prescribes and shall contain:
(1) A description, in such detail as the commission may prescribe prescribes, of the location and type of line facilities which the applicant proposes to construct;
(2) A statement justifying the need for such the facilities;
(3) A statement of the environmental impact of such the line facilities; and
(4) Such Other information as the applicant may deem considers relevant or the commission may require requires.
(c) Upon the filing of such the application, the applicant shall publish, in such the form as the commission shall direct directs, as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, the publication area for such the publication to be each county in which any portion of the proposed transmission line is to be constructed, a notice of the filing of such the application and that the commission may approve the same application unless within fifteen days after completion of publication a written request for a hearing thereon on the application has been received by the commission from a person or persons alleging that the proposed transmission line or its location is against the public interest. If such the request be is timely received, the commission shall set the matter for hearing on a date within sixty days from completion of said the publication, and shall require the applicant to publish notice of the time and place of hearing in the same manner as is herein required for the publication of notice of the filing of the application. At least thirty business days before the deadline set by the Public Service Commission to file a petition to intervene with regard to the application, the applicant shall serve notice by certified mail to all owners of surface real estate that lie within the preferred corridor of the proposed transmission line: Provided, That notice received by a named owner who is the recipient of record of the most recent tax bill that has been issued by the county sheriff's office for a parcel of land at the time of the filing of the application is sufficient notice regarding that parcel for purposes of this subsection.
(d) Within sixty days after the filing of said the application, or if hearing shall be is held thereon on the application, within ninety days after final submission on oral argument or brief, the commission may approve the application if it shall find and determine finds that the proposed transmission line:
(1) Will economically, adequately and reliably contribute to meeting the present and anticipated requirements for electric power of the customers served by the applicant or is necessary and desirable for present and anticipated reliability of service for electric power for its service area or region: Provided, That the commission includes written findings articulating how its decision is made in the best interest of West Virginia customers and its citizens; and
(2) Will result in an acceptable balance between reasonable power needs and reasonable environmental factors.
(e) The commission may impose conditions upon its approval of the application, or modify the applicant's proposal, to achieve an acceptable balance between reasonable power needs and reasonable environmental factors.
(f) The provisions of this section shall do not apply to the construction of line facilities which will be part of a transmission line for which any right-of-way has been acquired prior to January 1, 1973.
(g) The commission shall prescribe such rules and regulations as it may deem it considers proper for the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this section, which rules and regulations shall be promulgated in accordance with the applicable provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. as if the same were set forth herein in extenso
(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of the law to the contrary, the commission shall determine, in its discretion, which transmission line or lines crossing above the Ohio River must be marked to be made visible to airborne traffic flying in any area where such the lines exist, and shall within one hundred twenty days of the effective date of this section promulgate rules requiring that all public utilities or persons who install or maintain such the lines make the necessary markings.
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