AriSEIA Submits Comments on Line Siting Rule Changes

Arizona Corporation Commission
1200 W. Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85007

Re: In the Matter of the Five-Year Review of the Rules of Practice and Procedure before the Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee, Arizona Administrative Code Title 14, Chapter 3, Article 2, Docket No. ALS-00000A-23-0063

Chairman and Commissioners,

We appreciate the opportunity to weigh in on changes to the Line Siting rules. Below you can find our joint recommendations regarding changes to R14-3-201 through 220.

We Recommend Changes to All Requirements to File Written Copies of Documents and/or Mail Documents.

Numerous provisions of the rules require filing hard copies of documents and/or mailing documents. We recommended that all of these sections be updated to permit electronic filing and to remove all requirements to file any print copies. If for some reason a print copy is required, such as an exhibit that may not lend itself well to a print version, only one print copy should be required. Further, service should be permissible via electronic means and should not require mailing.

R14-3-217 may be entirely unnecessary given this change.

We Recommend Updating Outdated Language.  

There is no reason that the presiding officer should be presumed to be male. The language should be updated to remove personal pronouns. If this is not possible, alternating pronouns or using something like “s/he” or another generic term would be suitable.
 
Recordings of the Proceedings Should Also be Available on the Arizona Corporation Commission’s “Live” Page for Streaming and for Archived Recordings. 

All Line Siting proceedings, including meetings and hearings, should be available to watch from the Commission’s “Live” page and a recording of all meetings and proceedings should also be available as an archived video on the same page. We recommend creating a tab for “Line Siting” on the archive portion of the webpage.
 
The Rules Should Allow That Hearings  Be Held at State Buildings Other Than the Capitol and That Notice Should Be Provided Electronically. 

R14-3-208(B)(2) says hearings can be held at the State Capitol in Phoenix. We recommend an option to hold the hearing in Phoenix, but think the Commission and other state buildings should also be an option for hearings. Further, public notice should be provided by means other than filing in the newspaper. Direct outreach to residents within a specific vicinity should be provided, as well as electronic notice via social media, email, radio, etc. should be utilized.
 
The Rule Should Expressly Allow Intervenors to Issue Data Requests. 

R14-3-211 should be updated to expressly indicate that intervening parties may issue data requests, along with the response time for responses.
 
We Recommend Requiring That a Free Read-Only Version of the Transcript Be Provided to all Intervenors and the Public. 

Procedural orders for Line Siting already require applicants to provide a read only copy of the hearing transcript to be publicly available on the applicant’s website. R14-3-212 should be updated to reflect this and the transcript should also be available on the Commission’s website, not just the applicant’s website.
 
We Recommend “Days” be Clarified as Calendar or Business Days. 

R14-3-215 should clearly specify if the Committee is using business days or calendar days to calculate deadlines or time periods provided under the rules, as well as what happens if the final day falls on a non-business day.
 
We Recommend Ex Parte Communications Be Treated More Seriously. 
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R14-3-220(D) should be updated to require disclosure of any ex parte communications received by a member of the Committee, as well as a requirement to recuse oneself, should the Member have initiated or responded to the ex parte communication with anything other than a notice that such communication was prohibited.
 
Thank you for considering our recommendations to this important update to the Line Siting rules.
 
Respectfully,
 
Patrick Woolsey
Sierra Club Environmental Law Program
[email protected]
 
Autumn Johnson
Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association (AriSEIA)
[email protected]