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PSC approves dates for local hearings on Grain Belt Express lines

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Grain Belt Express Clean Line wind energy project is moving closer to finally getting the green light from the Public Service Commission.

The commission on Wednesday approved Dec. 7-14 as the tentative time for eight local public hearings on issue of the wind energy project in the counties affected by the proposed transmission lines.

The hearings will be held in the counties affected by the proposed transmission lines twice a day.

Here are the dates for the public hearings in the eight counties affected by the Grain Belt Express Clean Line wind energy project.(Missouri Public Service Commission)
Here are the dates for the public hearings in the eight counties affected by the Grain Belt Express Clean Line wind energy project. (Missouri Public Service Commission)

The noon hearings will end by 4 p.m., allowing all of the parties involved to move to the next site.

The commission also discussed the format of those hearings, saying there would be no Q&A sessions.

They also agreed that witnesses would only be allowed to testify at one hearing for an allotted five minutes.

“The reason for that, and again, I wholeheartedly support it, is that we had a number of instances where we had the same witnesses testify at two, three or four hearings,” Chairman Daniel Hall said. “That limited the ability for other witnesses to testify, and it extended the duration of the hearing to an unreasonable amount of time.”

The PSC will defer to the judge on any other issues that arise.

All commissioners are expected to attend all of the public hearings.

Grain Belt Express is required to notify the public about the hearings within 10 days of the hearing’s scheduled time by using newspaper advertisements.

The commission also approved an evidentiary hearing to take place March 20-24 in 2017.

No party objected to the schedule within ten days of the previous filings, so the schedule proposals go into place after receiving unanimous approval from the commission on Wednesday.

TARIFFS, NEW ORDERS AND DISCUSSION
The PSC discussed Ameren’s tariff for electric vehicle charging stations, but elected to discuss it further in the Oct. 26th meeting.

The commission chose to withdraw four orders on planning issues from several utility companies from the agenda on Wednesday. They intend to bring those items up again at a future meeting.

The PSC overturned a decision by the North American Numbering Plan Administrator to withhold numbering resources from Southwestern Bell.

Southwestern Bell will receive 3,000 consecutive numbers to use in Kansas City. They say it will help meet the needs of St. Luke’s Health System.

The commission unanimously approved the sale of Jefferson County Public Sewer District to House Springs Sewer Company. The sale removes roughly 1,100 residents from the PSC’s jurisdiction.

They also approved an order to dismiss a case against Laclede Gas, citing insufficient evidence.