AEP plans line project

By DAVID LOPEZ
Special to the NEWS

AEP Texas and Sharyland utilities held two in-person open houses last Tuesday and Wednesday evenings to present residents with information about their latest effort to upgrade the local power grid in Cameron County.

The La Palma-Kingfisher Transmissions Improvement Project will build 5-7 miles of the double-circuit 345-kilovolt power line that will the La Palma AEP station to a new Kingfisher station that will be constructed southeast of San Benito and will belong to Sharyland Utilities. The final route will depend on what route is approved by the PUCT and might cut in on some residents’ land.

According to representatives from both AEP and Sharyland present at the meeting, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) ordered AEP Texas and Sharyland Utilities to add a second circuit to the existing line that runs across much of the Rio Grande Valley.

Landowner Blanca Chapa said she is against the project, mainly because portions of her five-acre land might be used by the project. Both entities are requesting a 150-feet wide space, or half an acre of land, to be used per easement.

Chapa moved out of the area for work but bought land in San Benito to retire in. She has been paying taxes on her land for 17 years and is upset that now, on the eve of her retirement, she won’t have the land to herself.

“They sent these information packets to us a week before the meeting, and some of our neighbors don’t even know about it,” she said. “It’s a really sneaky way they’re going about this.”

AEP Corporate Communications Manager, Larry Jones, explained at the meeting that residents do have a voice in this process.

“The open house tonight is to gather information from residents and to give them opportunities to gather their voice against issues that might come up from the project proposed. In some cases, we will make adjustments, and in others, we will not,” he said.

However, he explained, this project has been ordered by PUCT, so it will move forwards despite protests. The only thing residents can do is voice their concerns, which will lead the two entities to create various routes to present to the PUCT, but ultimately it will be the PUCT who decides which route to build.

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