Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc. v. Lake Shure Properties

289 N.W.2d 230, 1980 N.D. LEXIS 212, 1980 WL 574341
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 21, 1980
DocketCiv. 9738
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 289 N.W.2d 230 (Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc. v. Lake Shure Properties) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc. v. Lake Shure Properties, 289 N.W.2d 230, 1980 N.D. LEXIS 212, 1980 WL 574341 (N.D. 1980).

Opinions

PAULSON, Justice.

This is an appeal from a December 17, 1979, judgment of the Cass County District Court enjoining Lake Shure Properties and Fred Selberg and LaVonne Selberg [hereinafter the Landowners] from prohibiting, interfering with, or restricting entry of Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc. [hereinafter Minnkota] on to the Landowners’ properties for the purpose of modification and uprating of electric transmission lines. We do not reach the merits of this appeal because of what we deem to be an insufficiency in the notice given to the Landowners by the Public Service Commission [PSC] of a hearing on waiver of all corridor and routing procedures. We reverse and remand to the district court with instructions.

Minnkota is an electrical utility cooperative in the business of wholesaling electrical energy in northern North Dakota and Minnesota with its headquarters in Grand Forks, North Dakota. In 1968 and 1969, Minnkota obtained easements for the construction of its Center-Fargo transmission line. The Center-Fargo transmission line [232]*232extends approximately 210 miles from a power generating plant in Center, North Dakota, to the Maple River Substation north of' Fargo, North Dakota.

Prior to construction of the Center-Fargo line, Minnkota obtained identical written easements from Lake Shure and the Sel-bergs, which easements granted Minnkota permission to enter upon the Landowners’ property to “construct, operate, repair, maintain, and replace thereon” an electric transmission line. The easements identify the location of the center line of the energy corridor and extend 60 feet in each direction from the center line of the towers supporting the transmission line. Three towers were placed on the Selberg property and three on the Lake Shure property, for which the Landowners were paid $275.00 per tower.

Due to increased demand for electrical energy, Minnkota entered into a joint venture with four other power companies to construct the 440 megawatt Coyote Power Plant at Beulah, North Dakota. In order to transmit its share of the power from the Coyote Power Plant to its service area, Minnkota had to seek additional transmission facilities. Minnkota determined that the most efficient and economical approach would be to uprate its existing Center-Fargo line from 230 kilovolts to 345 kilovolts. The primary advantage of the uprating project was considered to be the fact that Minnkota could use its existing rights-of-way along the Center-Fargo line to transmit the additional energy rather than the more burdensome alternative of constructing a new and separate transmission corridor across the State.

The actual uprating of the line was to be done by replacing the bottom section of each existing tower with a bottom section seven feet longer. This was to be performed by lifting each tower with a mobile crane and replacing the bottom leg section. This can even be done with the line energized, although whenever possible the work is performed with the line de-energized. After the bottom leg section is replaced, the upper sections of each tower are reinforced and additional conductors and insulators are installed to accommodate the additional line.

Minnkota sought to obtain a waiver of all corridor and routing procedures pursuant to § 49-22-07.2 of the North Dakota Century Code, which, at the time this cause of action arose, provided:

“49-22-07.2. Waiver of procedures and time schedules. — Any utility which proposes to construct an energy conversion facility with a design not in excess of one hundred thousand kilowatts or a transmission facility within the state may make an application to the commission for a waiver of any of the procedures set forth in this chapter. The commission, after hearing and upon a finding that the proposed facility is of such length, design, location, or purpose that it will produce minimal adverse effects, may issue an order waiving specified procedures and. time schedules required by this chapter, including but not limited to applications, notices, and hearings, and may forthwith issue a certificate of site compatibility, a route permit, or both, with such conditions as the commission may require. The proposed facility shall thereafter be constructed, operated, and maintained in compliance with this chapter.”

The waiver hearing was held on June 20, 1978, at Bismarck, North Dakota. Notice of the hearing on Minnkota’s application for a waiver of all corridor and routing procedures was published in The Fargo Forum on June 9,1978, or 11 days prior to the hearing in Bismarck.

The Landowners contend that this notice was defective because it did not comply with the requirements of § 49-22-13, N.D.C.C., which, at the time this cause of action arose, provided:

“49-22-13. Public hearings — Notice.— The commission shall hold public hearings as prescribed by regulation to afford interested persons an opportunity to be heard regarding its inventory of exclusion and avoidance areas and any other aspects of the commission’s activities, duties, or policies arising under or set [233]*233forth in this chapter. The commission shall hold at least one public hearing in each county where a site or corridor is being considered for designation pursuant to section 49-22-10 as suitable for construction of an energy conversion facility or transmission facility; however, where more than one county is involved, the commission may consolidate the county hearings and hold a consolidated hearing or hearings in a place designated by the commission. Notice of public hearings shall be given by the commission at the expense of the applicant at least twenty days prior to such hearings. In an emergency, the commission, in its discretion, may notice a hearing upon less than twenty days. Notice shall be by publication in the official county newspaper of the county in which the public hearing is to be held and by mailed notice to the persons designated in subsection 2 of section 49-22-08.”

We agree. Section 49-22-13, N.D.C.C., provided that notice by publication of a public hearing of the PSC was to be made at least 20 days prior to the time when the hearing is held. It is conceded by counsel for Minnkota that publication was not made at least 20 days prior to the hearing.

Counsel for Minnkota argues, however, that the 20-day requirement does not apply to waiver hearings. We find that it does. We believe that waiver hearings are implicitly included in the words “any other aspects of the commission’s activities, duties or policies arising under or set forth in this chapter” used in § 49-22-13, N.D.C.C. In fact, we believe that the above-quoted phrase was intended by the Legislature to be tantamount to an incorporation by reference of a section such as § 49-22-07.2, N.D.C.C. Further support for our position that the 20-day notice requirement applies to waiver hearings is found in § 69-06-01-02(3) of the Regulations of the Public Service Commission. PSC Reg., section 69-06-01-02(3) of the North Dakota Administrative Code provided, at the time this cause of action arose, that:

“3. WAIVER AND EMERGENCY HEARINGS. Public hearings shall be held on an application for a waiver of procedures and time schedules and on a request for a determination of demonstrable emergency. Notice of a hearing shall be given by the commission at least twenty days prior to the hearing by publication in the official newspaper of each county in which any part of the facility is proposed to be located.”

Minnkota cites Eckre v.

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Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc. v. Lake Shure Properties
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
289 N.W.2d 230, 1980 N.D. LEXIS 212, 1980 WL 574341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/minnkota-power-cooperative-inc-v-lake-shure-properties-nd-1980.