Opinion ID: 1925723
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Availability of alternate routes

Text: Another element of this case which has been strongly contested is the manner in which the Commission should weigh the existence of alternate routes. Again, the Commission correctly recognized that the availability of alternate routes is a factor which it must consider, but the Commission considered itself without power to deny approval of the utility's proposed location unless another route is so preponderately more appropriate to the public interest as to render the utility's proposal arbitrary or capricious. We say, instead, that if the evidence shows the existence of appropriate alternate routes, the relative appropriateness of these routes is a factor which the Commission must consider, along with the other factors, in determining whether the Applicant has satisfied the Commission by a fair preponderance of the evidence that the proposed location is the proper locationthat is, one more in the public interest than any others proposed. While the fact that there is an acceptable alternate route would not in itself justify the Commission's denying an application, the totality of all the evidence presented as to all the factors bearing on the public interest might leave the Commission convinced that the alternate route is the proper location. Of course, one of the factors bearing on the public interest is the comparative costs, because increased costs of acquisition and construction may be borne, in part, at least, by the rate-payers and could, of course, make the expense of a project prohibitive, depriving the public of needed services. We hardly need to mention that also among the factors bearing on the appropriateness of the choice are safety and the quality of the service expected to result. The comparative appropriateness of alternate routes which other courts have found relevant in determining reasonable necessity under their statutes is at least equally important in the determination of the proper location under our own. See State Highway Bd. v. Loomis, 122 Vt. 125, 165 A.2d 572 (1960); Moore Mill & Lumber Co. v. Foster, 216 Or. 204, 336 P.2d 39 (1959). The presentation of credible evidence by a protestant suggesting the availability of an acceptable alternate route (or the Commission's own doubts concerning the effect of the proposed location upon the public interest) should entitle the utility to opportunity for further study and presentation as to the alternate route in support of its position. The Commission, in such a case, should require sufficient evidence to satisfy it, in its discretion, that the proposed location is the proper location before it grants its approval. We are mindful that, especially in residential areas, the utility's opportunities to take by eminent domain are severely restricted by the very statute we are interpreting and that a residential property owner's unwillingness to give the utility rights of way may prove to make an otherwise appropriate alternate location unreasonably expensive or even impossible to obtain. We are aware, too, that property owners on the suggested alternate route may be similarly distressed if the route of the transmission line is shifted to cross their land. The decision as to whose property rights must yield to the public interest depends upon the Commission's determination of which location is the proper location, viewed from the standpoint of the overall public interest. This is not to suggest any absence of authority in the Commission to inquire, sua sponte, into the question of proper location, in the public interest, in the absence of objection from landowners. The entry will be: Appeal sustained. No. 735 remanded to the Public Utilities Commission for further action consistent with this opinion. No. 735A dismissed without prejudice as moot. DELAHANTY, J., did not sit.