Debate over new transmission line continues

Debate over new transmission line continues

Written by Shannon Colletti Thursday, 07 February 2008

In 2004, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the electric grid for 75 percent of the state, indicated a need for more transmission lines in Central Texas.

Two electricity providers — Lower Colorado River Authority Transmission Services Corp. and Dallas-based Oncor (originally part of TXU Electric Delivery) — agreed to build a 345-kilovolt, double-circuited, bundled-conductor, bulk-power transmission line that will run from Clear Springs, which is northeast of San Antonio, straight through Hutto, to Salado. The ERCOT-approved project will be about 100 miles long.

“The economy in Texas is continuing to grow. We’re seeing more businesses and people move into the state. More importantly, the folks living here are using more electricity,” Oncor spokesman Chris Schein said. “You’re seeing a significant increase for the demand of electricity and have to have a way to get it from point A to point B.”

Schein said the reason the line will run through Hutto is because it provides the most direct and cost-efficient route.

“The fact is we’ve been asked to increase the north-south capacity between these two points to help ensure the reliability for Central Texas, and all of Texas, as part of the grid,” Schein said.

LCRA spokeswoman Krista Umscheid also said the project is needed to address regional transmission needs such as electric load growth due to population increases, new power plants and electric reliability concerns. The proposed project would alleviate the transmission congestion and the higher costs for electricity associated with bringing power from the plants to consumers.

Citizens agree a new line is necessary.

“The Hutto Citizens Group is not saying the line is not needed,” said Charles Shell, chair of the Hutto Citizens Group Transmission Lines Committee. “They’re saying it needs to be done in a responsible manner that benefits the citizens in Hutto as well as citizens in Texas, and we don’t think [the decision makers are] doing that.”

Where the line will go

Both utility companies came up with a preferred route and multiple alternate routes. LCRA TSC’s preferred route is 85 miles long and begins in Clear Springs. It has 20 miles of line running along a segment of Toll 130 south of Hutto until it reaches the Gilleland Creek Switching Station near Pflugerville. There the line would head northeast, partially looping the city, and eventually veer west to the Hutto Switching Station on Ed Schmidt Boulevard. It will pass schools and run through residential neighborhoods, developing subdivisions and commercial developments.

At the Hutto Switching Station, the LCRA TSC line will meet with Oncor’s proposed 36-mile line, which will continue north to a substation in Salado. The total route costs an estimated $250 million, according to Schein and Umscheid.

LCRA TSC said the line cannot run along Toll 130 in Hutto.

“While LCRA TSC will not construct the transmission line inside the SH 130 right of way, LCRA TSC’s preferred route is adjacent to SH 130 and Texas Department of Transportation’s SH 130 right of way for about 25 percent, or 20 miles, of its length. TxDOT did not size nor did it acquire enough right of way along SH 130 for a project of this size,” Umscheid said.

Another vision

City manager Ed Broussard said the city is not arguing whether or not the line must be built to accommodate growth in Central Texas.

“What we’re arguing is Hutto should not be the one to bear the brunt of these lines coming through and have them tear up our community for the betterment of the state,” he said. “There needs to be some quality and fairness there, especially when a corridor exists for this to be located through. And we’ll be glad to make that position in court, but we’d rather not get to that place.”

Toll 130 was initially conceived by Gov. Perry to be an infrastructure corridor as well as a highway, meaning that utilities could be implemented along its right of way. LCRA TSC is refusing to put the line along the toll road because its corporate policy is not to build transmission lines on highway right of way, said John Gordon, Hutto’s consulting engineer on the project.

Gordon said the line could and should go along the east side of Toll 130 as originally intended. He developed the city’s preferred route, which would have the line simply continue along the toll road and connect at a new, much larger, 345 kV switching station that he proposes be located just off Toll 130, north of Hwy. 79, rather than at its current location in the middle of Hutto.

“It is a technically accomplishable task that we can put that transmission line there,” Gordon said, adding that Oncor already has 138 kV lines on the west side of Toll 130. “There is one transmission line on the west side. Nothing prevents us from putting this transmission line on the east side.”

An administrative law judge and the Public Utility Commission of Texas, however, have already turned down Hutto’s proposed route along Toll 130.

Approval process

Before starting construction, the two utility companies must first have their plans approved by the PUC.

Last March, LCRA TSC filed an application to amend its Certificate of Convenience and Necessity with the PUC. Oncor filed its application in July.

In both cases several intervenors have objected to aspects of the applications. The cases, therefore, must go to the State Office of Administrative Hearings where an administrative law judge will conduct hearings to listen to all parties’ arguments.

LCRA TSC’s hearing began early this month. Oncor’s is scheduled for early May. Once a hearing is completed, if no settlement is reached, the judge will recommend a route. The proposal will then go to three PUC commissioners who will issue a final decision, said Jason Rammel, consulting attorney for the City of Hutto.

Once the PUC approves the routes, the companies will purchase easement rights, which give a utility the right to use another person’s land for a stated purpose.

Concerns

Several local groups have joined together to object to the line’s placement in Hutto. These include the city, economic development corporation, school district, chamber of commerce and citizens such as the Hutto Citizens Group, which formed in direct response to the transmission line proposals in 2006. City and community leaders sought the help of the governor Jan. 14 by sending letters requesting he intervene.

“The community is totally united,” Shell said. “The community said, ‘If you work with us in a reasonable fashion, we’ll work with you.’ But neither utility company is willing to work. It’s kind of their way or the highway.”

Umscheid said public input is important to LCRA TSC.

“We always want the public to be aware of any project we are proposing or constructing,” she said. “We get as much information to the public as we can on any of our projects. … If we don’t provide services in a way that benefits Central Texas residents or we don’t provide good customer service to them, then we could cease to exist.”

In addition to the locations of the route and switching station, Hutto citizens have voiced several other concerns with LCRA TSC’s proposed line, including:

1. Economic impact: The line potentially will impede the city’s economic development, especially along the northern side of town, said Scott Martinez, EDC executive director.
2. Aesthetics: LCRA TSC plans on using steel lattice towers that are about 150 feet high and 60 feet wide. Gordon said citizens want single-pole towers used.
3. Health and safety concerns: Shell said many residents are concerned about the electromagnetic fields that power lines emit; some studies have linked these to cancer. The proposed lattice structures could also pose risks to anyone who tries to climb them, he added.

Proposed transmission line routes

History of the transmission line controversy

• Late 2005: The city of Hutto is made aware of LCRA TSC and Oncor’s proposed line location alternatives.
• Early 2006: LCRA TSC hosts open houses on the project in Austin, Pflugerville, Seguin and Lockhart and later holds meetings with individuals who were unable to attend the public hearings. Oncor also holds public hearings in the area.
• Summer/Fall 2006: City council and staff meet with LCRA TSC and Oncor staff to eliminate development concerns.
• Winter 2006/ 2007: Local landowners and citizens provide the city with additional information and viewpoints as local opposition to LCRA TSC and Oncor’s plan grows.
• March 2007: LCRA TSC files its portion of the transmission line routes. City leaders say LCRA TSC does not adjust their routes to meet community concerns. The city council votes to intervene at the Public Utility Commission in opposition to LCRA TSC and Oncor’s transmission line plans. The city council authorizes its city attorney to employ a consulting attorney as its legal representative in the proceeding.

  

• May 2007: The city council authorizes employing a consulting engineer.
• February 2008: Administrative law judge will make a recommendation on the location of LCRA TSC’s portion of the line.
• May 2008: Administrative law judge will make a recommendation on the location of Oncor’s portion of the line.

Sources: City of Hutto

The current Oncor-owned Hutto Switching Station is 2.6 acres. To accommodate the 345kV lines, the new one will need to be 13.5 acres — more than 5 times bigger, according to an Oncor representative.

What Hutto groups are saying about the line

Several Hutto entities wrote letters to Gov. Perry requesting his intervention in the transmission line issue. In their Jan. 14 letters, excerpted below, each cites specific reasons for their concern.

“The reason your involvement is being requested is that your appointees at the LCRA and at the Public Utility Commission are:

“1. Ignoring your political initiative to establish infrastructure corridors; and

“2. Violating the regulatory process set up to create a fair hearing venue for all parties. …

“The City of Hutto, at great expense to its taxpayers, has presented clear, undeniable technical evidence that SH 130, a one thousand foot wide corridor, can safely and efficiently be used to route this major 345-kV transmission line. … LCRA’s plan not only destroys our most recent economic development corridor project, our north side loop, it will ruin many of our neighborhoods. … If common sense does not prevail, then we will kill the project. We will kill it in the political arena and we will kill it in the regulatory/judicial arena.”

-Mayor Ken Love, City of Hutto

“While reliable electricity is integral to the continued economic development of our community, the proposed route would inhibit growth in the northern part of Hutto.”

-Mario Perez, Hutto Economic Development Corporation president

“The proposed route would affect the economic growth as well as aesthetic considerations for a growing community of families and businesses.”

-Kurt Johnson, Hutto Chamber of Commerce president

“Hutto Independent School District is taking the stance that this is not acceptable in any form or fashion running the proposed transmission lines directly beside an elementary school. … The LCRA’s plan destroys our most recent community economic development project, our north side loop. The LCRA plan ruins many of our neighborhoods. Hutto Independent School District believes this is completely unfair to the families, businesses, students and community of Hutto.”

-David Borrer, Hutto ISD superintendent

Who gets the power?

Chris Schein, Oncor:

“A transmission line is a highway for electricity. If you’re talking about expanding capacity on Interstate 35 between Waco and Dallas, who is that serving? Is that serving those two cities? No, because there a lot of people between Austin and Dallas who would benefit from that. There are people between Austin and Oklahoma City who would benefit from that as well as all the cities between those two specific points. A highway is designed to help move traffic expeditiously across large areas, but everyone in between and everyone served along those highways beyond those two points also benefits.

“As we expand the Hutto and Salado transmission line, Central Texas is obviously a benefactor, but so is all of North Texas and all of South Texas because you’re able to more efficiently move power from one area of the state to another. And as we continue to see all of the Texas economy grow — north, south, central, east and west — we need the additional capacity to move the generation between the different areas.”

Krista Umscheid, LCRA:

“Currently, there is more electricity being produced than there are transmission lines to bring the power to where it is needed. So electric producers are bidding for the right to use existing transmission lines to send their power to their customers. A transmission line can have a host of different power providers using it in a single day to get their electricity to their respective customers.

“The proposed transmission lines are not allocated for just one city or community to get power, nor are they allocated for use by just one power producer. Think of a town square water fountain that has several pipes bringing water into it. People come to it and fill up their buckets, but can’t identify exactly which pipe their water came from. That’s kind of how a substation and transmission lines work. Everyone has a retail service provider to whom they pay their bill, but the power they get could come from an LCRA power plant, a wind power farm or be purchased on the open electric market if there happens to be a power plant that isn’t operational for some reason. The lines coming into the substation keep the power at a certain level, like the pipes feeding into the town fountain keep replenishing the water.”