According to an update from Friends of the San Saba River, the State Office of Administrative Hearings, during a prehearing conference April 14, set a procedural schedule agreed to by attorneys for Oncor and the LCRA, and the group of intervenors now numbering 280 as the April 27 intervention deadline nears.
According to FOSS, a group dedicated to thwarting proposed routing of new 765kV transmission lines from the Bell County East Substation near Temple, out to the Big Hill location in the Permian Basin, which would cross the waterway in multiple locations.
Key dates on the procedural schedule include:
- Intervention deadline – April 27, 2026
- Deadline for intervenors to file direct testimony or a statement of position – May 13
- Deadline for intervenors to serve discovery on Oncor/LCRA – May 15
- Hearing on route adequacy – May 18, 2026
- Hearing on merits – June 8-12
- Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) submits Proposal for Decision to the PUC – August 18
- PUC Decision Deadline – Sept 22
Intervenors failing to file direct testimony or a statement of position by the deadline will be dismissed and barred from further participation.
All witnesses who filed direct testimony, including all Intervenors, must participate in the Hearing on the Merits either in person or by videoconference. All witnesses are subject to cross-examination at the hearing.
After the hearing on merits, all parties will file written closing briefs, which are due by June 19.
PUC Interchange Filing System
According to information from FOSS, all documents related to the Bell County East to Big Hill CCN application are filed in Docket 59475 in the PUC Interchange filing system.
(Click on the number in the first column to go to a particular filing. The first row of the filing will be a Zip file that usually contains the original documents filed. Other rows will be a PDF document that you should click on to see the filed document.)
