Senate Bill No. 444
(By Senators Oliverio, Prezioso and McKenzie)
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[Introduced February 5, 1999; referred to the Committee on
Energy, Industry and Mining.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section eleven-a, article two,
chapter twenty-four of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
marking power transmission lines crossing interstate
highways.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eleven-a, article two, chapter twenty-four of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
§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; marking transmission lines; 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 shall
have obtained before obtaining 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 form as the commission may prescribe the form prescribed by
the commission and shall contain:
(1) A description, in such detail as the commission may
prescribe, of the location and type of line facilities which the
applicant proposes to construct;
(2) A statement justifying the need for such facilities;
(3) A statement of the environmental impact of such the line
facilities; and
(4) Such Other information as the applicant may deem relevant or the commission may require.
(c) Upon the filing of such the application, the applicant
shall publish, in such form as the commission shall direct, 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 unless within fifteen days after
completion of publication a written request for a hearing thereon
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 a 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.
(d) Within sixty days after the filing of said the
application, or if hearing shall be held thereon, within ninety days after final submission on oral argument or brief, the
commission may approve the application if it shall find and
determine determines 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; 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) Except as provided in subsection (h) of this section,
the provisions of this section shall 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 the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred
seventy-three.
(g) The commission shall prescribe such rules and
regulations as it may deem 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 or
crossing over interstate highways must be marked to be made
visible to airborne traffic flying in any area where such 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 lines make the
necessary markings.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require certain power
transmission lines crossing interstate highways to be marked to
be made visible to airborne traffic.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.