As used in this act:
(1) “Act” means the Florida Electric Transmission Line Siting Act.
(2) “Agency,” as the context requires, means an official, officer, commission, authority, council, committee, department, division, bureau, board, section, or other unit or entity of government, including a county, municipality, or other regional or local governmental entity.
(3) “Amendment” means a material change in information provided by the applicant to the application for certification made after the initial application filing.
(4) “Applicant” means any electric utility that applies for certification under this act.
(5) “Application” means the documents required by the department to be filed to initiate and support a certification review and evaluation, including the initial document filing, amendments, and responses to requests from the department for additional data and information. An electric utility may file a comprehensive application encompassing all or a part of one or more proposed transmission lines.
(6) “Board” means the Governor and Cabinet sitting as the siting board.
(7) “Certification” means the approval by the board of the license for a corridor proper for certification pursuant to subsection (10) and the construction, operation, and maintenance of transmission lines within the corridor with the changes or conditions as the siting board deems appropriate. Certification shall be evidenced by a written order of the board.
(8) “Commission” means the Florida Public Service Commission.
(9) “Completeness” means that the application has addressed all applicable sections of the prescribed application format and that those sections are sufficient in comprehensiveness of data or in quality of information provided to allow the department to determine whether the application provides the reviewing agencies adequate information to prepare the reports required by s. 403.526.
(10) “Corridor” means the proposed area within which a transmission line right-of-way, including maintenance and access roads, is to be located. The width of the corridor proposed for certification by an applicant or other party, at the option of the applicant, may be the width of the transmission line right-of-way, or a wider boundary, not to exceed a width of 1 mile. The area within the corridor in which a right-of-way may be located may be further restricted by a condition of certification. After all property interests required for the transmission line right-of-way and maintenance and access roads have been acquired by the applicant, the boundaries of the area certified shall narrow to only that land within the boundaries of the transmission line right-of-way. The corridors proper for certification shall be those addressed in the application, in amendments to the application filed under s. 403.5275, and in notices of acceptance of proposed alternate corridors filed by an applicant and the department pursuant to s. 403.5271 for which the required information for the preparation of agency supplemental reports was filed.
(11) “Department” means the Department of Environmental Protection.
(12) “Electric utility” means cities and towns, counties, public utility districts, regulated electric companies, electric cooperatives, regional transmission organizations, operators of independent transmission systems, or other transmission organizations approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or the commission for the operation of transmission facilities, and joint operating agencies, or combinations thereof, engaged in, or authorized to engage in, the business of generating, transmitting, or distributing electric energy.
(13) “License” means a franchise, permit, certification, registration, charter, comprehensive plan amendment, development order, or permit as defined in chapters 163 and 380, or similar form of authorization required by law, but it does not include a license required primarily for revenue purposes when issuance of the license is merely a ministerial act.
(14) “Licensee” means an applicant that has obtained a certification order for the subject project.
(15) “Local government” means a municipality or county in the jurisdiction of which the project is proposed to be located.
(16) “Maintenance and access roads” means roads constructed within the transmission line right-of-way. Nothing in this act prohibits an applicant from constructing a road to support construction, operation, or maintenance of the transmission line that lies outside the transmission line right-of-way.
(17) “Modification” means any change in the certification order after issuance, including a change in the conditions of certification.
(18) “Nonprocedural requirements of agencies” means any agency’s regulatory requirements established by statute, rule, ordinance, or comprehensive plan, excluding any provisions prescribing forms, fees, procedures, or time limits for the review or processing of information submitted to demonstrate compliance with such regulatory requirements.
(19) “Person” means an individual, partnership, joint venture, private or public corporation, association, firm, public service company, political subdivision, municipal corporation, government agency, public utility district, or any other entity, public or private, however organized.
(20) “Preliminary statement of issues” means a listing and explanation of those issues within the agency’s jurisdiction which are of major concern to the agency in relation to the proposed electric transmission line corridor.
(21) “Regional planning council” means a regional planning council as defined in s. 186.503(4) in the jurisdiction of which the project is proposed to be located.
(22) “Transmission line” or “electric transmission line” means structures, maintenance and access roads, and all other facilities that need to be constructed, operated, or maintained for the purpose of conveying electric power extending from, but not including, an existing or proposed substation or power plant to, but not including, an existing or proposed transmission network or rights-of-way or substation to which the applicant intends to connect which defines the end of the proposed project and which is designed to operate at 230 kilovolts or more. The transmission line may include, at the applicant’s option, any proposed terminal or intermediate substations or substation expansions necessary to serve the transmission line.
(23) “Transmission line right-of-way” means land necessary for the construction, operation, and maintenance of a transmission line. The typical width of the right-of-way shall be identified in the application. The right-of-way shall be located within the certified corridor and shall be identified by the applicant in documents filed with the department before construction.
(24) “Water management district” means a water management district created pursuant to chapter 373 in the jurisdiction of which the project is proposed to be located.