Missouri clears way for new power lines despite protests

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- State regulators have approved construction of a new high-voltage power line through mid-Missouri that could add capacity to the existing power grid and lessen the likelihood of a failure similar to last week's blackout that affected parts of the Midwest and Northeast.

The state Public Service Commission approved AmerenUE's request to build a $25 million, 54-mile transmission line on a 2-1 vote Thursday, capping a couple of years of contentious debate on the issue.

Property owners in the path of the proposed power line fought against it. But commission chairman Kelvin Simmons said Friday he determined the new power line was in the public interest.

"For the state of Missouri to continue to offer reliable service, we've got to continue to invest in our infrastructure, and those transmission lines are vital to our infrastructure," said Simmons, who was joined in the majority by commissioner Connie Murray.

In dissent, commissioner Steve Gaw said the PSC needed more information and better criteria for determining when a new power line is in the public interest.

Commissioner Bryan Forbis abstained from the vote because of a friendship with one of the affected property owners, and commissioner Robert Clayton was absent.

The new 354,000-volt line is to run from near Dixon in Pulaski County, north through Maries County to Chamois in Osage County, connecting with a line that runs from AmerenUE's Callaway Nuclear Plant just a few miles away. Construction is expected to take about two years, said Mike Cleary, a spokesman for St. Louis-based AmerenUE, the state's largest electricity supplier.

The new line is expected to carry power for AmerenUE, as well as for other companies that may be shipping electricity through Missouri to other destinations.

AmerenUE claims the new line is needed to supplement an existing line that was overloaded more than 40 percent of the time just a few years ago. In 2000, there were 150 days when requests had to be issued for power suppliers to lower their load passing through the line, Cleary said.

30 requests

There have been just 30 such requests during the past three years -- a reflection not of decreased demand but of an electricity market that has been forced to adjust to alternative routes, he said.

Property owners in the path of the new line are upset partly because they won't benefit directly from it, since they are not served by AmerenUE. They contend the power line is being built primarily to export electricity to Arkansas, something Cleary acknowledges could happen but contends is not the sole motivation.

Opponents got the impression during a meeting last month with state regulators that Simmons would join Gaw in voting against the new power line. So they were shocked Thursday when he voted for it.

"This has nothing to do with Missouri power," said Doug McDaniel, an affected property owner near Linn and chairman of the Concerned Citizens for Family Farms and Heritage, which formed to fight AmerenUE. "I think the blackout is the reason why Mr. Simmons changed his mind."

Simmons said his decision was based on the merits of the specific power line, not the recent blackout.

"Prior to what happened last week, it was acknowledged by all that there were problems in that transmission line," he said, "and those problems basically extend to all who will partake in the electricity delivery system."

Gaw concurred that there was an engineering need for AmerenUE's new power line, but he said there was not enough evidence on whether it made financial sense and whether the chosen route was better than alternatives. He also complained that neither the courts nor the Missouri Legislature has established criteria to determine when a new transmission line is in the public interest.