Platte River Power Authority moved CenturyLink circuits off an overhead WAPA (Western Area Power Administration) route in February 2023 because WAPA was rebuilding transmission poles, testimony at a Public Utilities Commission hearing showed. The move left CenturyLink using a temporary route that PRPA staff later described as lacking geographic diversity for at least a portion between Drake and Glen Haven; that temporary route was threatened during the Alexander Mountain fire in late July 2024, and emergency work in the first days of the blaze brought multiple agencies together to re-establish 911 connectivity.

The dispute that emerged in the hearing focused on whether PRPA gave CenturyLink adequate notice and clear information about the effect of the relocation on geographic diversity for 911 circuits. ‘‘I did not disclose this because I did not have a start date for when the fiber was going down,’’ Jeff Grant, manager of telecom and fiber for Platte River Power Authority, testified when asked why a detailed July 2022 schedule had not been distributed to CenturyLink. The hearing record shows CenturyLink received a February 6, 2023 maintenance notice from PRPA that described a ‘‘long term outage while WAPA rebuilds their transmission line’’ and instructed recipients to ‘‘forward this email to others within your organization as needed.’’

Why it mattered: loss of diversity raises the risk that a single fire or other incident could sever both physical routes that carry 911 calls and other critical services. Kimberly Culp, chief executive officer of the Larimer Emergency Telephone Authority, told the hearing that LETA would have pursued the Adams Tunnel emergency route earlier if CenturyLink had informed the agency the move removed geographic diversity. ‘‘If CenturyLink had told LETA that geographic diversity was no longer available on Pole Hill, LETA would have worked diligently with CenturyLink and others in the region or even in the state to get a path through the Adams Tunnel,’’ Culp testified.

What PRPA says it did and why: Grant and other PRPA witnesses said the fiber move followed communications with WAPA and was driven by safety and construction needs: WAPA was replacing wooden poles with steel structures and replacing the optical ground wire (OPGW). Grant described multiple prior committee briefings and executive-committee meeting minutes where PRPA and owner communities discussed the WAPA rebuild and its potential impact on long-haul fiber. PRPA also said it provided an internal test circuit and that operational readiness for moving customers back to the rebuilt route required testing and coordination: ‘‘We were still in testing mode with our one circuit,’’ Grant said about the weeks before the fire.

CenturyLink’s view and network mapping: CenturyLink witnesses said their network-mapping tools (NDS) initially showed a route that in practice had been altered or was not as PRPA’s public diagrams suggested, and that the discrepancies complicated an already urgent emergency response. Daniel Troupe, a network implementation and program manager for CenturyLink, described looking in the company’s NDS during the fire and relaying concern to the emergency operations center (EOC) that the Valley could be isolated. On prior experience with alternative routes, he said of an earlier emergency path through Adams Tunnel, ‘‘I don't think it ever went live, to be honest with you.’’ CenturyLink engineers and operations staff then worked with PRPA staff and local technicians to identify patch positions at central offices and to re-establish needed circuits.

Emergency measures during the fire: Beginning July 29, 2024, PRPA and CenturyLink coordinated on moves intended to preserve or restore service. PRPA asked WAPA for emergency use of its fibers, and multiple parties worked to place backup circuits and, later, to leverage an alternate Adams Tunnel route built by local actors and CenturyLink in the first days of August. Testimony shows coordination involved requests to WAPA for emergency authorizations and on-the-ground work at town halls and central offices to move jumpers and patch panels.

Outstanding disagreements recorded in testimony: CenturyLink and PRPA disagree about which CenturyLink staff were copied on the February 6, 2023 notice, whether the notice satisfied the 30-day relocation language in the parties’ lease where a government authority (WAPA) is involved, and whether PRPA should have highlighted the loss of geographic diversity. Grant said PRPA’s practice was to wait until it could provide a reliable schedule; CenturyLink witnesses said internal CenturyLink teams were surprised by the practical effect on diversity when PRPA moved fibers onto the long-haul route.

Why it matters going forward: The hearing revealed coordination gaps among a fiber lessor (PRPA), a carrier (CenturyLink), a regional power agency (WAPA) and 911 authorities that surfaced during a real emergency. Multiple witnesses urged clearer, earlier, and more specific notice in future rebuilds involving third-party government infrastructure. The commission will weigh those facts in its deliberations. The record includes contemporaneous emails, internal CenturyLink threads showing that NOC and planning contacts reviewed the maintenance notice, and sworn testimony from PRPA, CenturyLink and emergency responders.