23-18-503. Definitions.

23-18-503. Definitions. As used in this subchapter: (1) “Applicant” means the utility or other person making application to the Arkansas Public Service Commission for a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need; (2)(A) “Commence to construct” means any clearing of land, excavation, or other action that would adversely affect the natural environment of the site or route of a major utility facility. (B) “Commence to construct” does not include: (i) Changes needed for temporary use of sites or routes for nonutility purposes; or (ii) Uses in securing survey or geological data, including necessary borings to ascertain foundation conditions; (3) “Commission” means the Arkansas Public Service Commission; (4) “Energy-efficient” means economical in the use of energy; (5) “Energy resource declaration-of-need proceeding” means a utility-specific proceeding conducted by the Arkansas Public Service Commission under §§ 23-18-106 and 23-18-107 and the rules adopted thereunder to determine the need for additional energy supply and transmission resources by a public utility; (6) “Major utility facility” means: (A) An electric generating plant and associated transportation and storage facilities for fuel and other facilities designed for or capable of operation at a capacity of fifty megawatts (50 MW) or more; (B) For the sole purpose of requiring an environmental impact statement under this subchapter, an electric transmission line and associated facilities including substations of: (i) A design voltage of one hundred kilovolts (100 kV) or more and extending a distance of more than ten (10) miles; or (ii) A design voltage of one hundred seventy kilovolts (170 kV) or more and extending a distance of more than one (1) mile; or (C) For the sole purpose of requiring an environmental impact statement under this subchapter, a gas transmission line and associated facilities designed for or capable of transporting gas at pressures in excess of one hundred twenty-five pounds per square inch (125 psi) and extending a distance of more than one (1) mile except gas pipelines devoted solely to the gathering of gas from gas wells constructed within the limits of any gas field as defined by the Oil and Gas Commission; (7) “Merchant generator” means a person or entity, including an affiliate of a public utility, engaged directly or indirectly through one (1) or more affiliates, that is in the business of owning or operating all or part of a facility for generating electric energy and selling electric energy at wholesale; (8) “Merchant transmission provider” means a person or entity that owns or operates facilities used for the transmission of electric energy and whose rates or charges are not subject to the jurisdiction of the commission; (9) “Municipality” means any county or municipality within the state; (10) “National interest electric transmission corridor” means an area of the state found by the United States Secretary of Energy to be experiencing electric energy transmission capacity constraints or congestion and therefore designated as a national interest electric transmission corridor by the United States Secretary of Energy under the authority granted by section 1221(a) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-58; (11) “Nonrenewable energy technology” or “nonrenewable energy sources” means any technology or source of energy that depends upon the use of depletable fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal; (12) “Person” includes an individual, group, firm, partnership, corporation, cooperative association, municipality, government subdivision, government agency, local government, or other organization; (13) “Public utility” or “utility” means a person engaged in the production, storage, distribution, sale, delivery, or furnishing of electricity or gas, or both, to or for the public, as defined in § 23-1-101(9)(A)(i) and (B), but does not include an exempt wholesale generator as defined in § 23-1-101(5); (14) “Regional transmission organization” means an entity approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to plan and operate facilities for the transmission of electric energy within a designated region; and (15) “Renewable energy technology” means any technology or source of energy that is not depletable, including without limitation solar, wind, biomass conversion, hydroelectric, or geothermal.