52 Pa. Code § 57.75 - Hearing and notice
(a) Upon the
filing of an application, the Commission will set the time and place for
hearing or hearings of the application and will thereupon require the applicant
to cause the weekly publication for two consecutive weeks of a notice of
hearing in a newspaper of general circulation within each municipality in which
the HV line is proposed to be located. The publication of the notice of
hearings shall begin at least 45 days before the date set for the commencement
of the hearings. The notice of hearing for publication shall contain a brief
description of the proposed HV line, its location, a statement of the date,
time and place of the hearing and of its purpose and a statement as to where
and when a copy of the application is available for public
examination.
(b) The Commission
will notify each person or agency designated in §
57.74(b) and (c)
(relating to filing and service of application and notice of filing), parties
granted leave to intervene under subsection (c), and parties under subsection
(i) of the time and place of hearings on the application. After the initial
hearing, further hearing notices will be given by the Commission.
(c) Where it appears desirable, the
Commission or the presiding officer may provide for the grouping of parties
with substantially similar interests for the purpose of serving notices and
other documents. If a group does not designate a representative for the service
of notices and documents, the presiding officer may designate a representative.
Notice and documents shall be served only on the designated representative.
This subsection may not be construed, however, to limit the right of a party to
the proceeding to file motions, briefs, and the like with the presiding officer
or Commission when appropriate.
(d)
A request for leave to intervene shall be in writing and shall state briefly
the interest of the intervenor and the objections to be raised. Upon proper
request, the Commission will allow the timely intervention of any of the
persons or agencies listed in §
57.74(b) and (c).
Upon proper request, the Commission may allow the timely intervention of
another party deemed to have a substantial interest in the proceeding or whose
intervention will aid the Commission in its consideration of the
application.
(e) At hearings held
under this section, the Commission will accept evidence upon, and in its
determination of the application it will consider, inter alia,
the following matters:
(1) The present and
future necessity of the proposed HV line in furnishing service to the
public.
(2) The safety of the
proposed HV line.
(3) The impact
and the efforts which have been and will be made to minimize the impact, if
any, of the proposed HV line upon the following:
(i) Land use.
(ii) Soil and sedimentation.
(iii) Plant and wildlife habitats.
(iv) Terrain.
(v) Hydrology.
(vi) Landscape.
(vii) Archeologic areas.
(viii) Geologic areas.
(ix) Historic areas.
(x) Scenic areas.
(xi) Wilderness areas.
(xii) Scenic rivers.
(4) The availability of reasonable
alternative routes.
(f)
Upon the order of the Commission or the presiding officer, the applicant may
amend its application prior to the closing of the record, if every party,
utility, agency or municipality affected by the amendment is given reasonable
notice thereof and an opportunity to present evidence with respect to the
amendment.
(g) Upon petition of the
applicant, setting forth the circumstances which require the prompt
availability of an HV line, the Commission may grant expedited consideration of
the application. The Commission will give to the hearing and decision of
expedited applications preference over other applications filed under this
subchapter and will decide the same as speedily as possible.
(h) If no protests or petitions to intervene
other than that of the Commission staff or petitions to intervene which support
an application have been received by the Commission 7 days prior to the hearing
scheduled under subsection (a), the applicant may move, and the presiding
officer may order, that the case be submitted on the applications, exhibits,
written testimony and briefs of the applicants and written testimony, exhibits
or briefs filed by the Commission's staff. The motion may not be granted over
the protest of the Commission's staff, but, in such a case, hearings shall be
held. To move for a decision without hearing, the applicant shall have filed
written testimony and exhibits at least 30 days prior to the date of hearing.
The applicant shall also have given notice that it may make a motion under this
subsection in its notice of hearing published as provided for in subsection
(a).
(i) Eminent domain:
(1) Proceedings on eminent domain
applications for the same HV line are entitled to be consolidated with the
proceeding on the HV line's siting application.
(2) An eminent domain application for which
consolidation with a siting application is desired under subsection (a) shall
be considered by the presiding officer at the hearing on the siting
application, and the Commission shall issue an order granting or denying the
eminent domain application; provided that, prior to the hearing, the public
utility filing the eminent domain application serves a copy of the proposed HV
line's siting application upon the persons, corporations or other entities
having a property interest sought to be acquired by the eminent domain
application.
(3) Unless the
applicable eminent domain application has been withdrawn by the public utility,
a person, corporation or other entity which is served a copy of the siting
application as required by subsection (b) shall be a party to the proceeding on
the siting application.
(4) A
portion of the record of a proceeding under this subchapter may be admitted
into the record of a subsequent proceeding on an eminent domain application for
the same HV line, upon reasonable notice by motion plainly identifying the
matters offered. If only part of the record is offered, a party may require the
movant to introduce portions relevant to the part introduced and a party may
introduce other portions.
Notes
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