CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — An advocacy group for farmers and ranchers in Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico says landowners should receive annual payments from developers that build power lines across their property.
The Rocky Mountain Farmers Union says its proposal would alleviate opposition from landowners to planned transmission projects — many of which are stalled in courts throughout the West. In a report, the union also calls for landowners to have a bigger say in where transmission lines are placed.
But an official with a transmission line company said such a concept would increase costs, which will ultimately be paid by the consumer.
The Denver-based Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, which held a forum on the topic Thursday during its annual convention, developed the proposal with the help of a transmission line developer, Cornerstone TransCo LLC.
Landowners currently get one-time payments from developers that build power lines on their land. But developers' ability to condemn that land — and a belief among landowners that one-time payments they get from developers aren't enough — has fueled costly and time-consuming disputes that also block development of upstream power generation projects.
The farmers union says its proposal would more fairly compensate landowners and speed up wind farm and transmission line projects.
The farmers union also called on landowners to form associations to increase their negotiating power with developers on power line location and compensation.
Brent Orr, president of Cornerstone TransCo., said it is "not unreasonable" for landowners to seek more money for the power lines put on their land and his company has already been involved in projects that increased their compensation.
Orr said landowners should be able to seek annual payments based on the amount of power transmitted on the line. The payments could be increased yearly with inflation or if the amount of power transmitted is increased, and they would last as long as the power line was on the land.
He calculates that the increased compensation to landowners would amount to less than 0.5 percent of the total cost of building, maintaining and operating a wind farm and associated power lines.
The money landowners now get for power lines is an even smaller fraction of the overall costs, Orr said.
"I think landowners should get more than they're getting," he said.
But he warned that landowners must be rational and reasonable in the amount of compensation they seek.
Rick Thompson, a senior manager with Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, said landowners should seek as much money as they can, but any increased costs have to be paid for by consumers, which include members of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union.
"As a utility, our mantra is keep prices low," he said.
Tri-State supplies power to 44 power cooperatives in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Nebraska and owns about 5,200 miles of power lines in its network.
Many rural areas of the West are ideal locations for wind farms. But new, costly transmission lines are needed to move the power they generate long distances to homes and businesses in urban areas.
Multiple small power lines are needed just to connect wind farms to the main power grid, and more main lines are needed to accommodate the new wind power.
Wyoming has about a half dozen large power line projects in various stages of development, including a $2 billion, 1,150-mile, high-voltage line that would extend into Idaho.
0 comments... read them below or add one
Post a Comment