State of South Dakota  
EIGHTY-EIGHTH SESSION
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY, 2013  

400U0284   SENATE BILL   NO.  12  

Introduced by:    The Committee on Commerce and Energy at the request of the Public Utilities Commission
 

        FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act to update citations and revise certain provisions regarding permits for energy facilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA:
    Section 1. That § 49-41B-2 be amended to read as follows:
    49-41B-2. Terms as used in this chapter mean:
            (1)    "AC/DC conversion facility," an asynchronous AC to DC to AC tie that is directly connected to a transmission facility or a facility that connects an AC transmission facility with a DC transmission facility or vice versa;
            (2)    "Associated facilities," facilities which include, aqueducts, diversion dams, transmission substations of two hundred fifty kilovolts or more, storage ponds, reservoirs, or cooling ponds;
            (3)    "Carbon dioxide," a fluid that consists of more than ninety percent carbon dioxide molecules compressed in a supercritical state;
            (4)    "Commission," the Public Utilities Commission;
            (5)    "Construction," any clearing of land, excavation, or other action that would affect the

environment of the site for each land or rights of way upon or over which a facility may be constructed or modified, but not including activities incident to preliminary engineering or environmental studies. This term includes modifications to facilities as defined in § 49-41B-2.2;

            (6)    "Energy conversion facility," any new facility, or facility expansion, designed for or capable of generation of one hundred megawatts or more of electricity, but does not include any wind energy facilities;
            (7)    "Facility," any energy conversion facility, AC/DC conversion facility, transmission facility, or wind energy facility, and associated facilities;
            (8)    "Permit," the permit issued by the commission under this chapter required for the construction and operation of a facility;
            (9)    "Person," an individual, partnership, limited liability company, joint venture, private or public corporation, association, firm, public service company, cooperative, political subdivision, municipal corporation, government agency, public utility district, or any other public or private entity, however organized;
            (10)    "Siting area," that area within ten miles in any direction of a proposed energy conversion facility, AC/DC conversion facility, or which is determined by the commission to be affected by a proposed energy conversion facility;
            (11)    "Trans-state transmission facility," an electric transmission line and its associated facilities which originates outside the State of South Dakota, crosses this state and terminates outside the State of South Dakota; and which transmission line and associated facilities delivers electric power and energy of twenty-five percent or less of the design capacity of such line and facilities for use in the State of South Dakota;
            (12)    "Utility," any person engaged in and controlling the generation or transmission of

electric energy and gas or liquid transmission facilities as defined by § 49-41B-2.1;

            (13)    "Wind energy facility," a new facility, or facility expansion, consisting of a commonly managed integrated system of towers, wind turbine generators with blades, power collection systems, and electric interconnection systems, that converts wind movement into electricity and that is designed for or capable of generation of one hundred megawatts or more of electricity. A wind energy facility expansion includes the addition of new wind turbines, designed for or capable of generating twenty-five megawatts or more of electricity, which are to be managed in common and integrated with existing turbines and the combined megawatt capability of the existing and new turbines is one hundred megawatts or more of electricity. The number of megawatts generated by a wind energy facility is determined by adding the nameplate power generation capability of each wind turbine.
    Section 2. That § 49-41B-2.1 be amended to read as follows:
    49-41B-2.1. For the purposes of this chapter, a transmission facility is:
            (1)    An electric transmission line and associated facilities with a design of more than one hundred fifteen kilovolts; or
            (2)    A gas or liquid transmission line and associated facilities designed for or capable of transporting coal, gas, liquid hydrocarbons, liquid hydrocarbon products, or carbon dioxide, excluding any gas or liquid transmission lines or associated facilities which meet any of the following criteria:
            (a)    Lines or facilities that are used exclusively for distribution or gathering;
            (b)    Steel pipe and associated facilities that cannot be operated at a hoop stress of twenty percent or more of specified minimum yield strength as defined by 49 CFR 192.3 as of January 1, 2007 2013, or plastic pipe and associated facilities

that cannot be operated at a design pressure of fifty percent or more as determined by the formula specified in 49 CFR 192.121 as of January 1, 2007 2013; or

            (c)    Pipe which has nominal diameter of less than four inches and not more than one mile of the entire line is constructed outside of public right-of-way.
    Nothing in this section precludes a utility from applying to the commission for a permit for the construction of an electric transmission line and associated facilities with a design of one hundred fifteen kilovolts or less. For the purposes of this chapter such electric transmission line and associated facilities is a transmission facility.