 |
|
|
|
| By: Donna Rescorla, The Independent | 10/20/2006 |
|
|
|
|
Later several representatives of APS including Cholla Plant Manager Conrad M. Spencer met with The Independent to explain why they had launched the suit.
"We have a long-standing agreement with Aztec, signed in 1972," he said. "Since then we have had an excellent working relationship with them. We had a 35-year agreement and we went in and put in all the wells and infrastructure.
"We agreed Aztec could sublease the land to other ranchers for grazing and agreed to put in connections to fill the stock tanks from our wells. We tried to be an excellent partner with Aztec and the ranchers."
To explain the situation, Spencer gave a short history of the Cholla plant. When APS decided to come to the area in 1960, they bought the land on which the power plant would be built as well as that on which Cholla Lake would be formed. The first unit went into service 1962 with three or four wells providing the water they needed. When plans were made in 1970 for the next three units, the company purchased about 6.5 sections which are interspersed with the sections owned by Aztec. (In U.S. land surveying, a section is an area nominally one mile square, containing 640 acres.) After hydrology studies showed the best places to put wells, they entered into a lease with Aztec, Spencer said. The plant now has a total of 21 wells on the land they own as well as Aztec lands they lease. Spencer said they developed all the infrastructure including the pipelines and pumps for the wells.
With the lease for all but about 10 percent of the Aztec land set to expire Aug. 31, 2007, APS entered into negotiations with Aztec, Spencer said. He said they tried to swap some land west of Phoenix for the Navajo County land but, he said, Aztec President Stephen Brophy wasn't interested in any kind of land swap.
"We have a good working relationship with Brophy and the ranchers," Spencer said. "We met with Brophy 10 to 15 times to try to negotiate an extension of the lease but the value Aztec put on the table was not in the ballpark of being fair to rate payers."
One of Aztec's contentions is that electricity being generated at Cholla is being diverted to provide power to Oregon. Spencer said that in 1990, PacificCorp, an Oregon corporation with customers in seven western states, bought Unit 4.
"We entered into a power exchange agreement," he said. "Electricity from this plant and another 100 megawatts of power supplied by PacificCorp are used in this area during the summer months, from May 15 to Oct. 15. In the winter when we need it less, PacificCorp gets it since that's their peak load time. Although we sold that unit, Arizona customers benefit.
Steven Gotfried, with APS's media relations, said with Arizona growing so fast, it's a challenge for APS to meet the demands.
"APS is committed to provide quality service to the state of Arizona," he said. "The PacificCorp sale was part of the plan to provide energy the energy we need. APS works with the Arizona Corporation Commission to make sure they provide the service required."
Cholla has five 69-kilovolt (69,000 volt) lines to serve Navajo County, Spencer said. The lines go to Snowflake, Holbrook, Winslow, Keams Canyon on the Hopi Reservation and Navopache Electric Cooperative. APS is only one of several electricity generators providing power for the cooperative, he said. Through Navopache, APS provides some of the electricity used in Apache County and in the southern end of Navajo County.
"Cholla has a huge presence in Navajo County," Spencer said.
Units 2, 3 and 4 are all tied into higher voltage lines from 345-kilovolts to 500-kilovolts which supply the Phoenix area. These have less current so not as much of the electricity is thrown away with resistance, he said.
"Water is critical to our operation," Spencer said. "We tried to lease the Aztec land, to swap for other land or to buy it but we couldn't come up with a price without a suit. We took it to a local judge to decide.
"Over the years, we have spent a lot of time testing water and we try to be very good stewards of the aquifer. We plan on being here a long time. Two-thirds of our water comes out of Aztec land. The pipelines are all under ground.
"The only reason we are in the courtroom is that we want the water."
Spencer said letters were sent to all the ranchers telling them they could keep their leases on the land. The largest lease holder, J.R. DeSpain, had signed off the suit saying he was a sub-leaser and didn't want to be bothered by the suit, Spencer said.
Asked how a for-profit company could file an eminent domain suit, Spencer said state law states that utilities,:'in the interest of the public and only in the public good," can claim eminent domain.
"We have to show it's in the public good to protect private property owners from frivolous suits," he said. "This is not a frivolous suit. We serve the public in our business and we need that water."
Copyright © 1995 - 2006