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The final environmental impact statement for the Montana Alberta Tie Ltd. 230-kilovolt power line was published in the Federal Register on Oct. 3. The U.S. Department of Energy and the state Department of Environmental Quality may render decisions to approve the 133 mile-long line on the Montana side of the border by mid-November.
The power line would make possible wind energy development totaling 600 megawatts, 300 mw in each direction, from Great Falls to Lethbridge, Alta.
Bob Williams, MATL's vice president for regulatory matters, said last week that the final environmental impact statement was another important milestone in the company's project. "I am happy with the document. The result is a very thorough document," he said.
The agencies received comments on the draft statement from 352 individuals and organizations as well as 931 individual comments in the hearing transcripts, comment letters, and e-mails received.
After reading each comment, the agencies worked with landowners and MATL to revise the draft environmental impact statement to include a discussion of increased landowner compensation and changes in the preferred route.
The modified route brings together elements of MATL's preferred Alternative 2 and the agencies' preferred Alternative 4. Williams did not have the cost of the blended alternative figured yet, but he said it was within the company's budget.
He said MATL officials anticipated higher costs as they monitored suggestions for route changes, and worked closely with their engineering and procurement contractors.
Williams added that the most farmer-friendly Alternative 4 that uses all monopoles would have been considerably longer and more expensive, and he maintained last week that to adopt that route in total was out of the question as a possible alternative.
Williams said MATL staff has been busy behind the scenes to engage landowners. The staff has been updating the historical land sales in the region and confirming land titles, and would now incorporate the work where the company's preferred route changed, presuming that the agencies' final decisions are going to be in favor of the MATL project.
MATL has chosen DJ&A with its head office in Missoula, and a second office in Conrad, to undertake direct negotiations with unsigned landowners in Montana or where MATL and a landowner might require third-party assistance.
Williams said the company plans to mitigate the line's impact or provide fair compensation.
The final environmental impact statement was a balancing act, Williams said, that benefited from the many comments and meetings. "We came away with a much better understanding of landowner concerns," he said, explaining that the proposed transmission line affects an estimated 200 landowners in Montana and a smaller number in Alberta.
Dutton area farmer Chris Stephens said, in an interview on Monday, that he is still wading through the document, but based on what he has learned so far, he expects that the DOE and DEQ decisions probably would be appealed. He added that almost certainly some landowners would not sign easements and the company would be forced to undertake condemnation proceedings.
Stephens took the lead in organizing landowners to monitor the MATL project when it was first made public in 2005.
He said the final EIS makes substantial changes to the route south of Dutton, by using the route promoted in Alternative 4, but the diagonal route between Conrad and Dutton is unchanged and that is where the farmers had the most concerns.
"They did nothing there," Stephens said, explaining that it was ironic that the landowners in his group who were impacted the most got no change in the corridor, except for monopoles as opposed to H-frames.
He was pleased that the agencies addressed the safety concerns regarding the minimum height of the conductors to ensure safe operation of farm equipment.
However, he remains concerned with the whole line. He said MATL has not contacted any landowners in his group, and theorized that MATL is waiting for permit approval.
He said DOE's involvement made an impact on the project, but the issue of landowner compensation remains. "Farming costs went up 30 percent to 40 percent this summer," Stephens said, adding that the compensation outlined in the document "is not even close" to what it would cost farmers to work around the poles.
The MATL is proposed to go over Diamond Valley Ridge where Stephens' brother farms, but he said it is impossible to know where the center line of the route would run based on the maps in the EIS.
"I don't think MATL even knows," he said, explaining that the centerline could shift many yards either way.
Among his other concerns was what the new easement document would contain, since the original generic document was unacceptable to many farmers.
Williams said that he would like to meet face to face with each landowner, including those landowners who are not very happy with the proposed route. "We plan to be good corporate citizens," he said.
With the U.S. sub-prime mortgage mess and credit crunch affecting worldwide investments, the Acantha asked Williams if MATL's financing for construction would be a problem. Williams said the company is monitoring the credit situation closely and is carefully drafting its agreements with its contractors so that the risks are clearly understood.
Tonbridge Power Inc., MATL's parent company, expects to draw on a $90 million line of credit from an unnamed New York bank as soon as all permits are received for construction of the power line. An additional $9 million loan would fund the upgrade of NorthWestern Energy's substation in Great Falls where the MATL line ends.
The Spanish wind energy developer, NaturEner, has agreed to prepay $35 million in future transmission charges, having bought 300 megawatts of capacity northbound on the MATL line. NaturEner is already building a wind farm near Shelby, but that project would wheel its power on NorthWestern's power lines in the area.
"All these steps make sure that the financing is there," Williams said.
MATL has received approval of the line in Alberta; however, a group of landowners won the right to appeal the approval. The appeal is scheduled for a hearing in January.
When asked how MATL expects to wheel the power south of Great Falls, where the electric grid is reportedly constrained, Williams said the two shippers that have bought the 300-mw capacity southbound would be responsible to arrange for that, under NorthWestern's queue system, or they might procure interruptible capacity.
In an Oct. 1 press release, Tonbridge officials thanked Gov. Brian Schweitzer for his effort to pass the "Clean and Green" energy tax incentives, which give transmission lines that carry alternative energy a tax break, and his work to move the agencies' environmental review process forward in a timely manner.
Teton County Commissioner Arnie Gettel said last week that he had not heard from landowners in eastern Teton County about the line's impact. He said that if MATL can satisfy the landowners, and they can receive compensation, he's satisfied.
He said it appears now that MATL thought it could come in and bulldoze its way through, come what may, but that did not work out the way it wanted.
He said the region has to have transmission lines and most farmers, including him, already know what it's like to farm around them.
Teton County Commissioner Sam Carlson said, "I would like to see it approved, and go through. It's a good move for the economy, and the economy needs a shot in the arm."
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