Arkansas

WhiteTara

(30,200 posts) Sun Jan 4, 2015, 04:46 PM Jan 2015

Citizens of small Arkansas town back down SWEPCO

http://www.lovelycitizen.com/story/2152538.html

I feel like we are Cochabamba or maybe David and Goliath. But whatever it is, it feels good to have a win.

The backstory...In April of 2014 landowners received eminent domain letters to build a 345Kw power line that would pass over the state and deliver electricity to other states. The area they wanted to build the power line over is called karst geology. The entire countryside is riddled with limestone caves. Their plan was to sink metal poles 100 feet into the earth and have 350 tall poles over the environment. Of course their plan was incredibly flawed (they even left a river out of their map!) The fight was fierce and costly, but in the end, Earth won and the inhabitants of this small piece of paradise get to keep on living here.

withdrew its application to construct a high-voltage power line that would have run through the heart of Carroll County.

In a news release, SWEPCO said its decision to withdraw its application to the Arkansas Public Service Commission came after the company was notified by the Southwest Power Pool that the project was no longer necessary, based "on updated forecasts that show significantly lower electric demand than prior forecasts ..."

SWEPCO's announcement ended a long-running battle with the grassroots citizens group Save the Ozarks and left STO Director Pat Costner "a little stunned, but happy" Tuesday afternoon.

STO had fought the SWEPCO proposal for more than a year and a half, arguing that the project was unnecessary and would have a severe negative impact on Carroll County's environment and its tourism-based economy.

An ASPC judge had initially approved SWEPCO's plans to build the 345,000-volt line in Benton and Carroll Counties, but the ASPC agreed to a rehearing after both sides objected to the judge's ruling. SWEPCO preferred a different route for the power line than the one approved by the judge.