Citizens group files complaint over Energize Eastside project

Published 5:02 pm Wednesday, June 10, 2015

CENSE, the Eastside citizen group opposed to Puget Sound Energy’s Energize Eastside Project on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission alleging that the project violates “several laws.”

The complaint states that PSE, Seattle City Light, Bonneville Power Administration and ColumbiaGrid, the overriding transmission-planning region, failed to comply with FERC orders related to environmental impacts and evaluation of alternatives. The complaint alleges that PSE failed to review the plan as part of a “single utility” criterion that links the whole grid while seeking to prove the need for the upgraded transmission lines.

Officials at PSE, however, disagree. On Tuesday, Gretchen Aliabadi, co-lead on the Energize Eastside project, said the CENSE complaint “contains many misconceptions that lead to incorrect conclusions about the need for the Energize Eastside project.”

Aliabadi also said the project was a “local load-serving project” and therefore not subject to the rules CENSE cites in its complaint.

CENSE, the Coalition of Eastside Neighborhoods for Sensible Energy, is a citizen group opposed to the 18-mile transmission line upgrade project. CENSE has challenged the routes for the project, which will build new, larger transmission towers and lines along the current right-of-way, as well as the basic need for the project.

PSE has repeatedly stated that the current lines, which have not been upgraded since the 1960s, will not entirely meet the needs of the growing area by 2018. Specifically, the transmission lines presently handle 115 kilovolts (kV) and need to be able to deliver 230 kV.

CENSE and fellow citizen group Citizens for Sane Eastside Energy (CSEE) disagree, however, and have pressed for additional use studies, including an independent study commissioned by the Bellevue City Council. Utility System Efficiencies was commissioned by the city in December to determine if Energize is necessary and whether PSE’s estimated load forecasts correctly identified capacity issues in the future.

According to the Bellevue Reporter, USE consultant Peter Mackin said PSE is bound by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation to serve its load demand and regional transmission requests, such as to Canada. Even removing those requests — and cutting growth in other scenarios — still resulted in overloads and outages, he said.

“The bottom line is — under all scenarios — there was a local need,” Mackin told the Bellevue City Council in May. “You can’t just say, ‘Let’s reduce all the regional transfers to zero.’ It just won’t work.”

The complaint filed Tuesday continues to challenge the need for the project, but also shifts its focus to a pair of rules about larger Bulk Energy Systems that CENSE said must be obeyed because the Energize project is part of a larger, regional system.

“After seeking expert technical and legal advice, CENSE and CSEE believe that PSE may not have followed the FERC rules. These rules would favor one of the smarter, less expensive and less damaging alternatives to reliably power Eastside growth,” said Steve O’Donnell, president of CENSE. “We hope that FERC’s intervention will enable all parties to transparently compare viable alternatives to Energize Eastside.”

Included with the complaint is a 29-page affidavit and hundreds of pages of attachments from Richard Lauckhart, consultant and former vice president of power planning for Puget Sound Power & Light Company.

“Despite what many people may believe, FERC has determined that utilities do not have a monopoly on the ownership of elements of the Bulk Electric System, which Energize Eastside is part of,” said Lauckhart in a press release. “If, for example…it is determined that Energize Eastside is the best solution to a reliability problem, then any qualified entity that can build transmission lines would have the opportunity to bid on the project and subsequently build and own those lines. That entity then makes it available for use as a part of the Bulk Electric System and then recovers its cost from those who need it.”

However, included in the attachments to Lauckhart’s affidavit is a response from ColumbiaGrid on that issue in which they reiterate that Energize Eastside is a local load-serving project and therefore their analysis is complete as is.

Aliabadi also reiterated that the project would serve the needs of the Eastside and therefore regional rules like the ones cited in the complaint do not apply.

“We’re confident it will be dismissed though the formal FERC process,” she said.

The complaint also states that the project should have used existing lines that run through the corridor for Seattle City Light, but Aliabadi said PSE worked with ColumbiaGrid and SCL, who told PSE that they needed the capacity in those lines to serve their customers.

FERC rules give companies 30 days to respond to filed complaints. FERC will then ask other entities if they want to intervene in the process.

Energize Eastside is currently in the scoping process for the Environmental Impact Statement and is accepting public comment through June 15 at http://www.energizeeastsideeis.org.