Latest news with #JETx
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Landowners, local governments lose power struggle over power lines
People opposed to House Bill 1258 line the benches in the back of the Senate chamber on April 4, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor) The North Dakota Senate on Friday approved a controversial bill allowing a state agency to trump local government zoning authority on electrical transmission lines. The 27-18 vote went against the wishes of landowners gathered in the chamber and a committee recommendation. Supporters of House Bill 1258, including Sen. Terry Wanzek, R-Jamestown, said unreasonable setback rules threaten to shut down power line projects that benefit the whole state. Wanzek represents an area where a large power line is planned but a township rule says the line must be a half-mile from residences and threatens to make finding a route impossible. 'Most of the time, I support local control,' Wanzek said. But he said the current situation allows a township board and just a few landowners to stop a major project. 'Sometimes the local folks go a little too far,' Wanzek said. Some bill opponents referenced the landowners who traveled to oppose the bill, both on Friday and in a previous hearing where they overflowed the committee room. Sen. Keith Boehm, R-Mandan, said the bill was drafted to support a single project, though it would affect future high-voltage powerlines. Testimony in committee referenced the JETx project, a transmission line from Jamestown to Ellendale with towers that are 150 feet high. 'Every time we use legislation to push something through, we poke that bear, and if it wakes up, the consequences will be far more dramatic,' Boehm warned. The bill gives the state Public Service Commission, which approves power line projects and related utility rate increases, the ability to determine that a local ordinance is unreasonable. The commission last year approved the JETx project in a split vote. The bill had the support of utility companies that argued restrictive zoning laws drive up the cost of power line projects and mean higher bills for customers. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday gave the bill a do-not-pass recommendation on a 4-3 vote. The bill had previously passed the House 86-7. It now goes to Gov. Kelly Armstrong. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Stutsman County Commission rejects proposed zoning ordinance for gas, liquid transmission lines
Feb. 20—JAMESTOWN — The Stutsman County Commission unanimously rejected on Tuesday, Feb. 18, a proposed zoning ordinance for gas and liquid transmission lines. The county commission referred the issue back to the Stutsman County Planning and Zoning Commission. The county commission rejected the proposed zoning ordinance due to language in the North Dakota Century Code that supersedes local ordinances. The proposed zoning ordinance would have required a setback distance of 2,600 feet between any occupied dwelling and a new high voltage power line or large pipeline. The current standard is set at 500 feet by the North Dakota Public Service Commission. The proposed zoning ordinance change originated at the Stutsman County Planning and Zoning Commission, which unanimously approved in July changing the setback distance to 2,600 feet. The current Stutsman County zoning ordinance does not address setbacks for electrical transmission lines or pipelines. A proposed Jamestown to Ellendale transmission line project covers 95 miles and has a cost estimate of $440 million. The project connects the Otter Tail Power Co. substation north of Jamestown along North Dakota Highway 20 to the Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. substation near Ellendale. The line will have a 345-kilovolt capacity and will be capable of moving electricity in either direction as needed. The project was requested by the regional power grid operator Midcontinent Independent System Operators (MISO) and is promoted as a way to improve regional power grid reliability. MISO manages the power grid for a 15-state area and parts of the province of Manitoba. The developers refer to the project as JETx. Jerry Bergquist, commission chairman, said the commission had four solutions for the proposed zoning ordinance. He said the commission could either accept, table, reject or further amend the proposed amendments. He said North Dakota Century Code 49-22.1-13 deals with gas and liquid transmission facilities and 49-22-05.1 deals with electric transmission lines. North Dakota Century Code 49-22.1-1-13 says a permit for the construction of a gas or liquid transmission facility within a designated corridor supersedes and preempts any local land use or zoning regulations. North Dakota Century Code 49-22-05.1 says areas within 500 feet of an inhabited rural residence must be designated as avoidance areas except for transmission lines in existence before July 1, 1983. The commission's action came after a public hearing was held on the proposed zoning amendment. The frigid February temperatures should serve as a reminder that having reliable electricity is a "nonnegotiable, life-sustaining necessity," said Claire Vigesaa, executive director of the North Dakota Transmission Authority. "Interruption in the flow of the electricity impacts human life, human safety, business viability, food production, process and preservation," he said. "Health care, commerce, manufacturing, energy production and national security all require a reliable and uninterrupted electric power supply." Duane Anderson, a member of the Stutsman County Planning and Zoning Commission, said he made the motion for the 2,600-foot setback that was approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission at a meeting in July. He said he did that because of the rural residents who will be impacted by the project even if they won't have power poles on their land. He said those rural residents won't receive any compensation for the transmission line being near their property as long as it is 501 feet or more away but a landowner who owns land adjacent to the rural residents would be compensated for an easement. Stephanie Hoff, director of communications for Otter Tail Power Co., said in a voicemail to The Jamestown Sun that more than 45 route changes have been evaluated. "As we continue projec development, we want to continue to encourage landowners and others for that matter to keep reaching out to us with feedback and questions," she said. Hoff said a route permit application is being prepared in the meantime. Commissioner Levi Taylor said the commission could look at a temporary moratorium on transmission line projects to buy more time to research the JETx project and its impact on landowners. He said there are two bills in the Legislature that will impact the county commission's decision. The passage of House Bill 1258 would mean a permit for construction of an electric transmission facility within a designated corridor would supersede and preempt any local land use or zoning regulations. Senate Bill 2208 would hold infrastructure funding from local governments that pass local ordinances that conflict with approved projects by the state government. After a route permit for the JETx project is submitted to the North Dakota Public Service Commission, the county commission can adopt an ordinance pertaining to the project 10 days before the hearing on the route permit, Taylor said. "When you look at these two bills that are on the table, the time it's going to take to be discussed, voted on, and the time it's going to take to ultimately turn into a law or not, I feel is going to coincide in a very tight window when that PSC hearing is going to take place," he said. "By looking at a moratorium, we give ourselves some protection to research this." He said the moratorium offers the commission some time to make a decision on a local ordinance. "We could sit and do nothing which is basically the same as a moratorium but the protection component in terms of that PSC hearing, if we don't have a decision made or an ordinance adopted by then ... from what I understand, if the moratorium is enacted, that would give us an opportunity to enact something after that PSC hearing takes place once our decision is made," he said. Taylor also said the Stutsman County Planning and Zoning Commission needs to develop ordinances pertaining to other projects. "We have a proposed amendment change but we do not currently have a zoning ordinance," he said. "Furthermore, looking through all the ordinances, we have a stand-alone ordinance for like wind turbines but there's nothing in there regarding reclamations," he said. "There's no ordinance anywhere that says anything on solar or data centers or things like that. Although we are not talking about those projects right now, I personally feel we would be foolish not to consider those things as a possible option down the road with this project going in."
