PUC Discussion on Marginal Xcel Proposal Scheduled This Wednesday

Our wait for a PUC ruling is nearly over. Xcel's Pawnee-Daniels transmission line is on this week's agenda for discussion by the full Public Utilities Commission. The meeting will be webcast, and all are invited to listen to the proceedings in PUC Hearing Room A at 9 am, Wednesday, March 11. There are several items that will be considered before the Xcel proposal (14A-0287e).

In response, Halt the Power Lines will hold a discussion and planning committee meeting the following Wednesday, March 18 at 7 pm to discuss our next steps. Any who are interested, please mark your calendar. We'll send out details after the ruling.

More on the Process

Since the end of December, PUC staff analysts (Jessica Lowrey, Joel Hendrickson) have been reviewing the PUC administrative judge's initial approval of a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) and legal exceptions filed to the ruling.

By now, the staff will have met with each of the three members of the commission separately to present their analysis. The commissioners have not discussed the ruling with one another.

On Wednesday, the PUC will have a public, joint meeting with the staff analysts to discuss the ruling and the points brought out in the exceptions. By the end of the discussion, the commissioners will make a verbal decision as to whether or not to grant Xcel a CPCN. The actual legally binding written ruling will follow, probably within a few weeks.

In short, we'll have maybe a 95% understanding of where the project stands by the end of the day Wednesday.

What happens if the PUC grants the CPCN?

The ruling is somewhat final. If any participant in the legal process thinks the commission has made a legal mistake in its ruling, it could file for a reconsideration by the commission under what's called the "Three Rs."

It's important to note that if the CPCN is granted with a delayed project start (what the administrative judge recommended), construction would not start for five years. Much can happen during such a long period of time to change/halt such an expensive, marginal project, especially if demand forecasts fall (think distributed solar power generation).

Local Action

If the CPCN is granted and no party files for reconsideration, the next step would be land use review  and approval/non-approval by local jurisdictions (Douglas County, Parker, Aurora). We hope, particularly in the case of Parker because its citizens will be most directly affected with minimal to no benefit from the project, that representative governments are exploring and will continue to actively explore all their options (legal, political and technical). In the paraphrased, informal words of a PUC staff member: People think the PUC is the place to stop these projects, but the local jurisdictions have a lot of power in their processes.

We'll communicate later in the week, after the ruling, and thanks for all you've done so far. No matter what happens Wednesday, we've still got work to do.