North Dakota using new split hearing option on controversial power line

BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — North Dakota utility regulators have set a series of hearings on a controversial high-voltage power line, using a recent change in state law to spread out the hearings.

The Public Service Commission on Wednesday scheduled hearings on what is known as the JETx project, a transmission line between Jamestown and Ellendale.

The PSC will hold public hearings in the three counties along the proposed route, Dickey, LaMoure and Stutsman.

Before the public hearings there will be two days of technical hearings in Bismarck. Project developers will use that time to go over details of the 345 kilowatt line. Otter Tail Power Company and Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. are partnering to develop, build and co-own the 92-mile power line.

PSC Chair Randy Christmann said in some previous high-interest hearings, members of the public have waited for hours to comment on a project while listening to the technical details.

“Many times, we’ve gone well into the evening,” Christmann said.

He said the new system should make it easier for the public to comment.

“I’ve always felt it was so unfair to the landowners … to sit there hour after hour,” Christmann said.

A bill passed in the 2025 legislative session allowed for the procedure change. Senate Bill 2116 faced little opposition in the Legislature.

Commissioner Jill Kringstad on Wednesday noted that there have been times when people have shown up at PSC hearings but left before they could provide input.

She testified in favor of the bill that gives the PSC the option to split up the hearings. The JETx case will be the first time the split hearings will be used.

“I really like this new approach,” Kringstad said Wednesday.

Kringstad said most hearings will likely follow the traditional format, but split hearings can be used in cases with a large public interest.

A large crowd attends a Public Service Commission public hearing Dec. 21, 2023, on the Summit Carbon Solutions project. (Photo by Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor)

Scott Skokos, executive director of the Dakota Resource Council, said a main reason the group supported the change was hearings on the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline. The PSC held several drawn out hearings in 2023 and 2024 before approving the carbon dioxide pipeline route.

“The public would have to wait eight hours to testify after all of the technical experts were done,” Skokos said.

Bismarck media law attorney Jack McDonald said it’s important to know that both the technical and public hearings are open for anyone to attend.

“It’s actually a good thing for the public,” McDonald said.

In the JETx case, the technical hearing will be Jan. 8-9 at the Capitol in Bismarck. Public hearings will be Jan. 12 in Ellendale, Jan. 14 in Edgeley and Jan. 16 in Jamestown.

PSC hearings are typically livestreamed on the agency’s website.

The Public Service Commission in November approved a certificate of need for the large power line. However, the project still needs a route permit from the agency.

The JETx project received some pushback from landowners as the Legislature debated a power line zoning bill. The Legislature approved a bill that says electrical transmission line projects must follow state zoning rules, taking away local government authority.

North Dakota Monitor Deputy Editor Jeff Beach can be reached at jbeach@northdakotamonitor.com.