For the aforementioned reasons, I sincerely support and endorse Wind Catcher Energy Connection and the benefits that it will bring to Oklahoma. Oklahoma cannot afford to miss out on this opportunity to invest in our state and the citizens of Oklahoma. I would like to thank the Oklahoma Corporation Commission for their thoughtful consideration on this matter.

"Across the country, we are seeing clear proof of how building new efficient transmission infrastructure provides substantial benefits for consumers, through the delivery of clean renewable energy at rock bottom prices, job creation, and economic development.  We have worked to bring the Western Spirit Transmission Line and the Mesa Canyons Wind Farm to advanced stages of development in New Mexico, and are very pleased that Pattern Development will now take both projects over the finish line," said Michael Skelly, President of Clean Line Energy Partners.

Each RTO has its own system for modeling and evaluating proposed projects, and nothing is more difficult than deciding who should pay what, according to Mike Skelly, founder and president of Clean Line Energy Partners, the one company currently trying to build long-distance transmission lines in the Midwest. He offered up a restaurant analogy.

“If you go out to dinner and everybody orders different dishes, and you’ve got to figure out who’s gonna pay for what, it gets tricky,” he observed. In the inter-regional transmission world, typically a number of utilities and other customers benefit from new transmission capacity, but no one is eager to pick up the tab.

Skelly said the messy business of dividing the bill is one reason Clean Line has structured its two Midwestern long-distance transmission lines in a way that minimizes dealings with RTOs. It has proposed using DC instead of AC current, will take on power at one location and deliver it to two locations.

“We felt like the inter-regional planning processes didn’t work nine years ago, and they don’t work today,” he said.
Clean Line’s Grain Belt Express would ferry wind energy from Kansas to Indiana – and from the SPP to PJM. The Rock Island transmission line would move wind energy from northwest Iowa to the Chicago area – and from the MISO to PJM. Skelly said he knows exactly who would benefit from the project, and who, therefore, would pay for it: usually the wind farms whose electrons are moving to the east.

Plaintiff is quick to claim that it does not need any court order to enter upon the lands because it has that inherent right pursuant to the Eminent Domain Code. (Plaintiff's Brief in Opposition to Defendants' Preliminary Objections ... p. 7.) Yet, Plaintiff is here in Court seeking just that -- a court order permitting it and its agents entry onto lands of Defendants.

...claiming an immediate need to access Defendants' property for the purpose of obtain[ing] critical information, including various environmental studies, (including, wetland delineations, habitat assessments, and threatened or endangered species surveys), appraisals, geotechnical surveys (including soundings and drillings for testing soil and bedrock, cultural resources surveys, civil surveys (including trimming or cutting vegetation necessary for survey purposes) and all other surveys and tests necessary to properly assess the area, design and construct the proposed electric transmission line ...
(Plaintiff's Motion,~ 22).

From this description, the nature of the proposed intrusion onto Defendants' land appears to be quite extensive, quite possibly resulting in damage to the land. In fact, Defendants acknowledge the possibility of damage by noting in its Motion that it stands ready to pay damages should such occur.

disrupt Defendants' peaceful possession and enjoyment of their lands with "soundings and drillings ... [and] trimming or cutting vegetation ... " possibly resulting damages, on the off chance that the power line may, in fact, run over a portion of those lands, with one exception.

We fully realize that the final route may not be able to be approved absent the studies Plaintiff seeks to undertake. However something more than Plaintiff's mere assertions as to whose lands might be affected is required to satisfy us that Plaintiff is not on the proverbial "fishing expedition." We are mindful of Plaintiff's argument that preventing discovery at this stage of the proceedings makes it difficult for it to obtain final route approval. However, our concern is not with what Plaintiff must do to satisfy the PUC, our concern within the context of this litigation in general, and regarding Plaintiff's discovery request in particular, is to ensure that a party does not suffer from "unreasonable annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, [or] burden" during the discovery process.

PSO will suffer irreparable harm, damage, and injury unless the acts and conduct of Defendants above complained of are enjoined because further work and construction of the
transmission line cannot continue unless the location and description of the right-of-way easement across the Property owned by the Defendants can be determined.

State Rep. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York Township, said the project doesn't show that it will provide "long-term, significant benefits to our local Pennsylvania communities economically, nor preserve our tremendous agrarian heritage and scenic beauty."

She said, "York County is proud of its strong preservation heritage with nearly 42,000 acres and 282 farms."

Phillips-Hill said the question of why two existing high-voltage power transmission lines that run parallel to the proposed route and are not operating at full capacity aren't being utilized hasn't been satisfactorily answered.

AEP also did not want to discuss specific eminent domain cases. However, AEP spokesperson Melissa McHenry specified that as of this past spring, the company had more than 3,200 easements on projects, including more than 903 miles of transmission line. Out of the 3,200 easements, only 41, or 1.28%, required eminent domain filings, she said. In some of those cases, eminent domain was necessary “because the land was without clear title, and, therefore, condemnation by publication was necessary,” she said.

According to McHenry, when AEP constructs or upgrades a transmission line that requires the use of a landowner’s property, easement negotiations begin with property owners after state regulators have approved the project. The negotiations are based on the fair market value of the property needed for the ROW, she said. Appraisals and market data studies are conducted to determine market values and a basis for acquisition negotiations. Negotiations will continue “as long as practical” to reach a voluntary agreement.

If it becomes clear that a voluntary agreement between AEP and the property owner cannot be reached and other viable alternatives do not exist, the company will then exercise the right to eminent domain to secure required easements.

But Maine regulators must find that NECEC will benefit Maine residents, even though none of its electricity will be sold in Maine. Additionally, the project’s direct-current design restricts instate generators — such as wind or solar farms — from hooking up to the line.

But opponents, which include national energy companies that own competing power plants, say the project could force their plants offline, costing jobs, tax revenue and the ability to build new wind and solar projects in Maine.

• Maine power plants, including Wyman Station in Yarmouth, could close, and hundreds of jobs and more than $5 million in property tax revenue would be lost.
• Several Maine wind and solar projects could be canceled, too, because the line would be designed like an interstate highway from Canada with no on-ramps in Maine for other generated power.
• Despite being labeled a clean project, the line wouldn’t really lower carbon emissions that accelerate climate change because no new hydropower facilities would be built, meaning fossil-fuel power plants outside New England would be called on to backfill demand in New York state and elsewhere created by the diversion of power to Massachusetts.

Asked Tuesday to clarify the $40 million savings to Maine ratepayers, John Carroll, an Avangrid spokesman, said an analysis done for the company attempts to quantify the “downward pressure” on energy prices in the wholesale markets. The effect, he said, is similar to using less of a higher-cost fuel to meet electric demand; it produces lower prices for consumers.
In the testimony, opponents acknowledge that the project could “suppress” wholesale electric rates at first. But Tanya Bodell, executive director at Energyzt Advisors LLC in Boston, said that falling prices associated with other planned renewable generation projects would soon negate the impact of the new transmission line.