Delegation Asks For Comment Extension On Clean Line Project
by January 25, 2015 5:26 pm 132 views
A plan to build a transmission line through Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee needs more time for discussion, the state’s congressional delegation contends.
In a letter dated Friday (Jan. 23), Arkansas Congressional members – Sens. John Boozman, R-Ark. and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., along with Reps. Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, French Hill, R-Little Rock, Steve Womack, R-Rogers, and Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs – asked Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz for the extension of the public comment period for the draft environmental impact statement on the Plains & Eastern Clean Line Transmission Project.
The proposed project is an approximately 700-mile direct current transmission line that will deliver wind energy from the Oklahoma Panhandle region to utilities and customers in the Mid-South and Southeastern United States.
While supporters of the project tout its environmental upside – the transmission of wind energy, opponents are fighting it in large part due to the potential costs and the eminent domain issues related to land acquisition for the project.
In the letter from Arkansas’ elected officials, the delegation requests more time for constituents to share their views and concerns, noting that the comment period was announced during the holiday season.
“We understand the importance of infrastructure projects, including properly-sited transmission lines, but we also believe that potentially-impacted landowners and citizens must be treated fairly and they must have every opportunity to eliminate or minimize impacts before projects are considered. In short, private property rights must be protected. Accordingly, we request that you provide at least a 60-day extension of the comment period for the Draft EIS and Section 106 process on the Plains & Eastern Clean Line Transmission Project,” the letter states.
In addition to the delegation, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., also signed the letter.