New Pipeline-Linked Power Lines Planned
Posted on: Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 09:00 CDT
By Scott Waltman, American News, Aberdeen, S.D.
May 13--GROTON -- Work to build new power lines that would serve a Keystone Pipeline pump station in Day County would begin later this year if the state Public Utilities Commission grants permission for construction.
That's what an East River Power Cooperative official said at a PUC hearing on Monday night in Groton.
Dan Wall, East River manager of transmission/engineering services, said work on the lines would be finished early next year.
PUC commissioners said they have until Oct. 2 to decide whether to grant permission to East River, which filed an application to build the lines.
The lines would run from the Western Power Association's substation, about five miles south of Groton, southeast to a substation East River would build two miles south and seven and a half miles east of Ferney, Wall said. It would run for about 13 miles, following existing roads.
Bob Sahr, a former PUC commissioner who now works as an attorney for East River, said the substation the cooperative would build would serve TransCanada's adjoining pump station.
TransCanada plans to build the Keystone Pipeline to move crude oil from the Canadian province of Alberta about 2,200 miles to refineries in Illinois and Oklahoma. The pipeline would cut through 10 South Dakota counties, including Marshall and Day. The power lines East River hopes to build would start in Brown County and finish in Day County.
Alan Nierman of Groton said that he would like East River to select a different route. The proposed route passes in front of his home near the Groton substation. One option, Nierman said, is that lines be built through his pasture.
Wall said the route past Nierman's home is preferred because it follows existing roads. East River wants to build along roads because it's easier to maintain the lines and respond when there are service outages, he said.
East River could work with Nierman to make sure there aren't power poles in front of his home, Wall said. He said the line would be on the side of the road opposite Nierman's home.
Wall said the lines would be built on private property when landowners grant permission. When that isn't the case, the lines will go in rights of way along roads. East River has all of the easements needed, he said.
Before building, the cooperative needs approval from the PUC, state Department of Game, Fish and Parks, state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, state Historical Society, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Wall said the 115-kilowatt lines could provide two and a half times the power Groton needed during the town's peak use time last year.
Sahr said the state would collect more gross taxes as a result of the lines, but he didn't know a total. East River pays a gross receipts tax as opposed to property taxes. The state distributes gross receipts taxes to counties.
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Source: American News (Aberdeen, S.D.)
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