|
|
| dispute over electrical services at prison complex |
| By thnews.com/ |
| Published: 05/08/2009 |
|
PSC to hear dispute over electrical services at prison complex Kendall Owens, T-H Staff Writer The Arkansas Public Service Commission will hold hearing in June in regard to an ongoing battle over who will provide electrical services to the Federal Correctional Complex at Forrest City. The evidentiary hearing, which is set for 9:30 a.m. on June 3, was recently ordered by the APSC and was agreed upon by attorneys with Woodruff Electric Cooperative Corp., Entergy Arkansas, Inc., and the general staff of the APSC. The legal issues between the two electrical providers began in December when the General Services Administration notified Entergy that Woodruff Electric had been selected as the sole provider of electrical services for the prison. Entergy currently provides service for the entire complex, and 90 percent of the low and medium security complexes lie within Entergy territory. Entergy claims that it should be allowed to continue to provide service to the complex because the company holds leases with the Forrest City Special Improvement District. While Entergy holds the lease which expires in May of 2011, the prison firing range, training facility and portions of the low-security complex lie in Woodruff territory. The Entergy lease with the city recently came under fire when members of the Forrest City City Council considered switching electrical providers for the city. While Entergy asserts that their lease allows them to be the sole provider, Woodruff claims that the federal prison is actually federal property which allows the U.S. government to select whichever power provider it wants. According to a filing from Woodruff with the APSC, the property that the prison sits on was actually ceded to the federal government in 1997. Act 215 of 1997, which was sponsored by then Rep. Pat Flanagin, ceded concurrent jurisdiction to the United States “over lands, waters and buildings previously or hereinafter acquired for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional Institution in Forrest City, St. Francis County, Arkansas and over all future land, waters and buildings hereinafter acquired, leased or occupied, whether by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, by or on behalf of the United States for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.” In a filing Friday, APSC attorneys said that Entergy’s rights are limited to those of a lessee and that the commission’s jurisdiction may be limited as well. “... ‘the prison complex not part of EAI’s allocated service territory; rather, EAI is currently providing electrical service to the prison complex based solely on the Lease.’ The rights EAI enjoys pursuant to the lease, as the Supreme Court of Arkansas has noted, are limited to those of lessee and the party in interest is FC/FCSID. Attempts were made to contact officials with both Entergy Arkansas and Woodruff Electric for this story. Billy Martin, president and CEO of Woodruff, declined comment, and Mike Davis, Entergy’s public relations representative for this area, could not be reached for comment.Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think