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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