About the Certificate of Environmental Compatibility
On October 14, 2016, the Southline Transmission Project team filed an application with the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee of the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility (CEC) to authorize construction of the non-Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) owned transmission facilities within the state of Arizona. These facilities include a new approximately 66 mile 345 kilovolt (kV) transmission line in Cochise County from the Arizona-New Mexico border to the proposed Southline Apache substation to be built east of the existing AEPCO Apache substation near Willcox, the associated facilities to connect the Southline Apache substation to the AEPCO Apache substation, and approximately 5 miles of new 138 kV and 230 kV transmission lines and associated facilities that will connect existing substations to the lines owned and operated by WAPA. The application does not include the proposed upgrade of WAPA’s existing transmission line.
The ACC approved a CEC for the Southline Transmission Project on February 24, 2017. The approved CEC is available here. The detailed maps included in the application are excerpted here.
CEC Filing Background
Hard copies of the application, containing detailed maps of the project site and detailed information about the proposed facilities, as well as prehearing and hearing transcripts, were available for review at the following locations:
- Arizona Corporation Commission Docket Control Center, Phoenix Office, 1200 West Washington Street, Suite 108, Phoenix, AZ 85007
- Arizona Corporation Commission Tucson Office, 400 West Congress Street, #221, Tucson, AZ 85701
- Elsie S. Hogan Community Library, 100 North Curtis Avenue, Willcox, AZ 85643
- Benson Public Library, 300 South Huachuca Street, Benson AZ 85602
The application is available in full using the links below:
- CEC Application
- Exhibit A – Location and Land Use Maps
- Exhibit B-1_B-1 thru B-12 – Final EIS
- Exhibit B-1_B-12.1 thru B-12.726
- Exhibit B-1_B-12.727 thru B-12.1374
- Exhibit B-1_B-12.1375 thru B-12.1872
- Exhibit B-1_B-12.1873 thru B-12.2560
- Exhibit B-2_B-13 – Final Scoping Report
- Exhibit B-2_B-13.1 thru B-13.35
- Exhibit B-3_B-14 – BLM ROD
- Exhibit B-3_B-14.1 thru B-14.598
- Exhibit B-4_B-15 – WAPA ROD
- Exhibit B-4_B-15.1 thru B-15.13
- Exhibit B-5_B-16 thru B-44 – Summary of EIS
- Exhibit C – Areas of Biological Wealth
- Exhibit D – Biological Resources
- Exhibit E – Scenic, Historic, and Arc. Sites
- Exhibit F – Recreational Purposes
- Exhibit G – Proposed Facilities
- Exhibit H – Existing Plans
- Exhibit I – Noise and Interference
- Exhibit J – Special Factors
- Exhibit J-3a – AGFC MOA
Additional documents filed with the Arizona Corporation Commission relating to Southline's application include:
- Notice of Hearing
- Agenda
- October 3, 2016 Pre-filing Conference Transcript
- November 16, 2016 Pre-hearing Conference Transcript
- November 29, 2016 Hearing Transcript
- November 30, 2016 Hearing Transcript
- December 1, 2016 Hearing Transcript
- December 2, 2016 Hearing Transcript
- December 5, 2016 Hearing Transcript
- December 6, 2016 Hearing Transcript
- December 7, 2016 Hearing Transcript
All documents related to the Southline Transmission Project’s application for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility with the Arizona Corporation Commission are available on the ACC website: http://edocket.azcc.gov/Docket/DocketDetailSearch?docketId=19715. The docket number is: L-00000AAA-16-0370-00173.