Legislature Increases TPWD Influence in CCN Cases
In a recent filing in Docket No. 37260, a TPWD letter briefly notes that a written response to the TPWD recommendations may be required by law. The TPWD letter included several recommendations to protect wildlife resources. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Code, Sec. 12.0011 has for some time identified the department’s resource protection activities :
(1) investigating fish kills;
(2) providing recommendations that will protect fish and wildlife resources to local, state, and federal agencies that approve, permit, license, or construct developmental projects;
(3) providing information on fish and wildlife resources to any local, state, and federal agencies or private organizations that make decisions affecting those resources; and
(4) providing recommendations to the Texas Department of Water Resources.
This year's Legislature passed HB 3391, which added new language that requires an agency with statewide jurisdiction that receives a TPWD recommendation or informational comment to respond to TPWD in writing. The agency's response must include for each recommendation or comment provided by the department:
(1) a description of the proposed project, fish and wildlife resource decision, or water flow schedule resulting from the recommendation or comment;
(2) any other disposition of the recommendation or comment: and
(3) any reason the agency disagreed with or did not act on or incorporate the recommendation or comment.
The response to TPWD must be submitted within 90 days of the agency’s decision or action related to the recommendation or comment. This response is public information under the Texas Government Code.
This statute now gives TPWD’s recommendations a greater influence in transmission line cases in Texas. In the past, TPWD reviewed the environmental assessment prepared by the utility’s consultants and suggested that certain actions be taken to protect fish and wildlife resources. The Commission was not required to acknowledge or act on those recommendations. Now, the Commission must not only acknowledge the recommendations, it must publicly identify any modifications that were made as a result of those recommendations or explain why it did not act on or incorporate the recommendations.
Your blog is an excellent source of powerline news. Mason County, where I live, now faces a possible CREZ line. Any advice?
Attend the public meetings the utility holds in your area. Learn all you can about the proposed routes and the options the utility is considering. Talk with your neighbors and others in your community about the transmission line and the proposed routes. You are not alone in this and it often helps to work with your neighbors to communicate your concerns to the utility. If your property has special features or if there are reasons a line should not be built on your property, be sure to communicate that information to the utility while it is planning its routes. After the application is filed it is much harder for the utility to make changes in the route.