Dateline: May 14, 2009

New electric lines possible for county

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Representatives of a firm that plans to build, own, and operate electric transmission lines in the Panhandle addressed the Donley County Commissioners’ Court Monday afternoon about possible lines coming through the county.

B. Cameron Fredkin of Cross Texas Transmission told commissioners at their regular meeting that his firm was selected by the Public Utilities Commission to build some of the lines that will connect the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) electric grid with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid to bring power from future Panhandle wind farms to the rest of the state.

The boundary between those grids comes through Donley County, Fredkin said, and one of the proposed transmission lines coming from the south could pass through part of the county en route to a new substation in Gray County.

Fredkin presented a map with straight lines representing new transmission lines connecting specific interconnect points.

One of those lines, representing a 345 kilovolt double circuit line, crosses the northeastern corner of the county, but Fredkin said the actual route of that transmission line could wander further in to or out of the county.

Future public meetings will be held later this summer with specific meetings for landowners possibly this fall, Fredkin said. Final approval of a route will only come after consultations with landowners and state agencies. Construction is not expected to begin until 2012 or 2013.

County Judge Jack Hall said the court would be happy to assist anything that will bring business into Donley County.

In other county business on Monday, commissioners allowed the 90-day burn ban to expire; approved Memorial Day and July Fourth activities on the Courthouse Square; renewed retirement system plan provisions for 2010; awarded a new four-year depository contract to Herring Bank; continued the county’s participation in the statewide victim notification system; and accepted a letter from MaryRuth Bishop, who resigned from the child welfare board.