Three of the six proposed routes for a transmission line SWEPCO wants to build in Benton and Carroll counties stand to be removed from consideration.
A SWEPCO spokesman said the company doesn’t object to the removal of the proposed routes. An intervenor in the case had filed a request with the Arkansas Public Service Commission to have the routes removed because of their potential impact on Beaver Lake.
SWEPCO originally proposed one route with five alternates for a 50-mile transmission line it wants to build from Berryville to Centerton. The company said the line is needed to provide electricity for the growing population in the region.
Peter Main, a SWEPCO spokesman, said intervenors Thomas and Barbara Reinsvold, requested the removal of the routes after testimony before the APSC on July 19. The three proposed alternates were the company’s second-, third- and fourth-ranked routes.
“We recommended the alternates be moved to the bottom of the rankings and removed from further consideration,” Main said. “They are three of the four [routes] that cross Beaver Lake at some point.”
The APSC held public hearings in July over the proposed routes for the transmission line that. Judge Connie Griffin will decide at a hearing that is scheduled to being Aug. 26 in Little Rock.
