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Kansas Corporation Commission approves Evergy siting permit with route changes and landowner protections
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Summary
The commission granted Evergy's permit for an approximately 15-mile transmission line, approving a unanimous settlement that includes staff-recommended route adjustments to reduce impacts to about nine residences and new requirements for 30-day notice and post-construction certification of landowner protocols.
The Kansas Corporation Commission approved a proposed order and unanimous settlement in docket 26EKCE0149STG to allow Evergy to build an approximately 15-mile transmission line from the McNew generating station to the Reno County substation. Aaron Bailey, the presenter, said the application included a routing study and that both staff and Evergy testified that the line is necessary and that modifications make the route reasonable.
Bailey said staff recommended an alternative route intended to reduce impacts to roughly nine residences along East Illinois Avenue and proposed improvements to Evergy's landowner protocols. "Staff recommended an alternative route to decrease the impact of the transmission line on approximately 9 residences," Bailey said, and he told the commission that Evergy agreed to those modifications and to changes in landowner complaint procedures.
The proposed order imposes two precedential requirements, Bailey said: Evergy must provide affected landowners at least 30 days' notice before construction that explains both Evergy's complaint process and the commission's complaint process, and Evergy must certify compliance with commission-approved landowner protocols at the conclusion of construction. Commissioners voiced that these additions—damage-mitigation provisions, a complaint process, and a compliance certification—were persuasive and merited precedential treatment. The commission moved, seconded and voted to approve the unanimous settlement and the siting permit.
