Wind-generated electricity will require wide swaths of land
By Colin McDonald - Express-News
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Transmission lines usually take a year to be reviewed and approved by the Public Utility Commission of Texas. But to meet the growing demand for wind power, the PUC has 181 days to review, alter and approve the new transmission lines that will be built to serve the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones of West Texas that were created by state law.
- Public utilities bid for the right to build the new lines and receive a certificate of convenience and necessity. This allows them to use eminent domain, also called condemnation.
- The utility then proposes a route. If the line isn’t contested, the PUC reviews it and can grant approval.
- If people intervene in the case, the PUC may refer it to an administrative law judge at the state Office of Administrative Hearings.
- After reviewing testimony from approved parties, the judge makes a recommendation to the PUC called a proposal for decision.
- The PUC commissioners review the proposal and can accept it, change it, send it back to the judge for more review or deny it. But if the 181-day deadline runs out, the original proposed route will be approved by default.
- Parties who disagree with the vote by the commissioners can file motions for a rehearing.
- If that fails, parties can appeal the decision to Travis County district court.
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JUNCTION — The vast wind farms of West Texas promise to put a dent in the demand for coal-fired electric plants. But delivering that green energy to where it's needed most — the state's biggest cities — will leave scars on some of the most coveted land.
About 2,400 miles of new transmission lines will slice through the state and parts of the Hill Country, laced across hundreds of steel towers taller than the Superman: Krypton roller coaster at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. A swath of land as wide as a football field will be cleared to make way for the towers.
It's the largest expansion of the state's electric grid and will alleviate a bottleneck in wind power's growth. The $5 billion cost will be passed on to ratepayers throughout the state.
The process of determining where the 180-foot-tall towers and lines will be built has been sped up and pits landowners against the government and neighbor against neighbor.
The Hill Country is at the center of one of the most contentious disputes.
The Lower Colorado River Authority Transmission Services Corp., a public utility, will build 600 miles of lines and has the power of eminent domain, also known as condemnation, to get it done. So far, it has recommended a route and alternatives for about 80 to 90 miles, which could pass by Enchanted Rock.
This week, that route connecting a substation outside of Fredericksburg to one near Killeen is being debated before State Office of Administrative Hearings Judge Wendy Harvel. With no available courtroom large enough to hold all the lawyers involved, the judge is presiding at the Thompson Conference Center on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin.
Landowners, conservation groups and politicians have until April to exert whatever influence they can on the three governor-appointed members of the Public Utility Commission, which will make the final decision.
The same process will be repeated this summer for a line from north of Eldorado to the same substation outside Fredericksburg.
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