Exclusive: Local officials asking Barr, McConnell for help to reroute EKPC's Big Hill Line

RED LICK — A controversial plan by Eastern Kentucky Power Cooperative to build roughly nine miles of power line from Jackson County through Red Lick, including through the Owsley Fork Reservoir watershed, has met with opposition from local officials at municipal and county levels, The Edge can report exclusively.

“We’re concerned about the impact on the water supply,” Madison County Fiscal Court Judge Reagan Taylor told The Edge in an interview. “Madison County buys its water from Southern Madison County Water [District]. That might be impacted by EKPC’s plans for the line.”

Leaning on the ‘federal delegation’

Berea Municipal Utilities (BMU) initially purchases the water from Berea College, which owns the reservoir and the surrounding watershed properties. BMU then treats and distributes the water to its customers, as well as to Southern Madison Water District as a wholesale customer. The District then sells the water to their customers throughout Berea and Southern Madison County.

“We’ve been putting together some meetings with Congressman [Andy] Barr and we’ve also reached out to Senator McConnell’s team here in Kentucky,” District 1 Madison County Fiscal Court Magistrate Brian Combs told The Edge in an interview.

Combs said other local officials concerned about the line’s potential impact on the region’s water supply include Berea mayor, Bruce Fraley, and Tom Botkin, Madison County District 4’s magistrate to the County’s Fiscal Court.

“We’re using our federal delegation because of the way this project is funded, and because we don’t understand all the federal bureaucracy,” Combs said. “There are so many things we’re not aware of, that’s why we’ve reached out to Congressman Barr and Senator McConnell.”

Because the power line is considered a rural development, it is federally funded in part through the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an arm of the Department of Agriculture.

Combs acknowledged other concerns the group of officials have about the power line, including its environmental impact, its interruption of the view from the Pinnacles, and the unique history of the region. “But we think the quality of the water is the most important, and the one everyone can all get behind,” he said. “This is the worst place that [EKPC] could put it, right next to Southern Madison County’s only water source.”

In fact, Owsley Fork is the primary source of water for the District. Water is also drawn from the Cowbell, Kales and B lakes, also located on Berea College properties.

Concerns over dam expansion

Combs cited an independent study commissioned by the City of Berea that found the power line has the potential to negatively impact the water supply in the reservoir.

2024 01 Bell Engineering Owsley Fork Water Quality Impact Study1.65MB ∙ PDF fileDownloadDownload

The report states, “During the public comment period, a suggestion was made to move the line closer to Radford Hollow Road due to landowner concerns that the original alignment might affect the viewshed of nearby hiking areas. However, it was decided that this new alignment would have an adverse impact on water quality in the Owsley Fork Reservoir and, hence, it is not recommended.”

Berea is also set to raise the Owsley Fork Dam, a fact that also concerns Combs.

“When I went to the East Kentucky Power’s open house they had, when I talked about the dam project on Owsley Fork, the representatives from EKPC didn’t know about what I was talking about,” Combs said. “So that was part of the conversation that we had with Congressman Barr. The fact that you got two different projects basically funded by the same [federal] funding mechanism, and the two are not talking to each other about how one project affects the other.”

The power co-op held an open house to explain the project to affected residents at the Forestry Outreach Center in September 2023. The dam project will raise its capacity from from 650 million gallons to one billion gallons. A start date for the dam improvements has not been set.

Concerns over impact on citizens

“We’re concerned about the way it affects the view shed and the water supply,” Fraley told The Edge in an interview. “It’s important to citizens of Berea, Berea College, to Berea Tourism, it’s important to all parties, and also to anybody using the lake. My hope is that they will re-route it.”

Residents deemed by EKPC to be most affected by the line, primarily because their property would be needed for an easement, were notified by a letter in September 2023 that the line was being built and was scheduled to begin construction in November of this year.

To date, there has been no construction, according to Nick Comer, spokesperson for the power co-op, but some residents already have entered into land deals with the power co-op.

“EKPC is in the process of obtaining right of way for the easement for the transmission,” Comer confirmed with The Edge in an interview.

According to EKPC’s website, the Big Hill EKPC/Blue Grass Energy cooperative members currently are served by the Hickory Plains substation in northern Madison County. That substation serves 4,100 meters, more than any other in EKPC’s system, according to Comer. The Big Hill substation is intended to alleviate the Hickory Plains site of 1,500 meters, and will best balance the needs of power customers and the environment, he said.

The Big Hill Line will connect the Three Links—Sand Gap transmission line in Jackson County to the one in Hickory Plains, Madison County. A substation is set to be built at the intersection of Ky. 421 and Red Lick Road in Big Hill.

Citizens directly affected by the line and others concerned about the line’s impact on the environment and other aspects of the area, challenge EKPC’s claim that the project meets the criteria for a “categorical exclusion” from having to conduct an environmental impact report before beginning construction.

Federal investigation triggered

Opponents also are demanding the power co-op present evidence it has conducted a site-specific environmental report under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Comer told The Edge that EKPC is currently conducting field investigations per the RUS, and plans to wrap up the NEPA review in next few months.

In August meanwhile, the Kentucky Resources Council sent a letter to the RUS, laying out its argument that the line does not qualify for a categorical exclusion, and demanded that the agency “conduct a review to ensure that EKPC meets all appropriate environmental obligations under NEPA, the National Historic Preservation Act, and the Endangered Species Act.”

Letter to USDA's RUS from the Kentucky Resources Council7.83MB ∙ PDF fileDownloadDownload

Superintendent of the Southern Madison County Water District, Wayne Robinson, also sent EKPC a letter of opposition to the power line, signed off on by the water district’s chairman, Larry Todd.

Federal policy states that such a letter of opposition to a utilities project funded by the RUS triggers an investigation of the project by the agency, Gregory Thomas, a USDA Rural Development spokesperson, told The Edge. Whether an investigation has started, Thomas was unable to confirm by press time.

When Comer was asked whether he was aware of any RUS investigation, he repeated that the power co-op is conducting its NEPA study.

Letter of opposition to EKPC from Southern Mad Water District.68.5KB ∙ PDF fileDownloadDownload

When asked why collaborating on their opposition to the line has taken the officials more than a year to organize, Combs told The Edge it has been difficult to know how to respond. “Part of the problem is that this project doesn’t really have any local oversight or input. That’s the frustrating part.”

This story is developing and The Edge has more to report soon.

Up next week: Why was the power co-op able to plan the power line without any involvement from local officials or input from residents? Don’t miss out — subscribe now, and tell others about The Edge!

Update: On December 20, 2024, at 12:30pm, this story was updated to include that in addition to Owsley Fork, there are other water sources for the Southern Madison Water District. The relationship between Berea Municipal Utilities and Southern Madison Water District has also been clarified.