Should You Intervene?

Your initial decision is whether you want to be an active party in the proceedings -- called "an Intervenor" -- or just want to let the Commission know how you feel. The four most important things to realize about being an intervenor:

There can be substantial work (and expense) in participating as an Intervenor, but if you are not an Intervenor you cannot present evidence to the Commission.
Throughout the proceedings the utility will be negotiating with the landowners, and especially with the Intervenors.
Most lines are built on the route which the utility has identified as the "preferred route," but landowners who do not intervene have no say in the outcome of the hearing.
Moving the route off of your land means moving it onto someone else's, so it is likely that your interests will not coincide with your neighbors' - which means that throwing in together with a neighbor may not be a sensible thing to do.

Do not underestimate the work and expense of intervening. To start with, almost every document must be filed at the Commission in multiple copies. In addition, you'll have to make and send a copy to each other party (including Intervenors and the utility). There will be at least one prehearing conference (in regular courts, this would be a "pre-trial hearing"), almost always in Austin, mostly dealing with scheduling and deciding who is to count as an Intervenor. About half-way through the process is a hearing on the merits, also almost always in Austin.

Before that hearing, you will almost certainly be asked questions by the utility, and perhaps other parties. These questions, which may be quite detailed, must be answered fully and under oath -- and you must send copies of your answers to everyone. There may well be legal wrangling over this discovery and other matters, and these disputes may give rise to appeals to the Commission. The Commission, if it takes up an appeal, will set its discussion and decision for a scheduled Open Meeting (almost always held in Austin). The Commission rarely invites oral argument at its Open Meetings, and often does not discuss its decision -- but you're taking a big chance if you skip an Open Meeting at which your case will be discussed.

You will be expected to prepare your direct testimony -- what your testimony would be at a trial -- in printed form, with all of the necessary attachments and exhibits. And -- you guessed it -- you must file multiple copies of that and send all the other participants copies. At the hearing, you can testify. You may well be cross-examined by the utility, and possibly by other parties (and you will have the chance to cross-examine everyone else's witnesses). When the hearing is over, the utility and the PUC's Legal & Enforcement Division (which participates in all of these cases, representing the public interest) -- and you, if you choose to -- can submit briefs, making an argument based on the evidentiary record and the law, and then reply to everyone else's briefs.

The Judge will prepare a Proposal For Decision, to which all participants can file criticisms (called "Exceptions"), and then reply to others' exceptions. The Office of Policy Development (OPD) will prepare an order for the Commissioners, adopting or rejecting or modifying the ALJ's PFD. The case will be set for discussion and decision at an Open Meeting. The Commissioners will discuss and decide the case, and OPD will prepare a Final Order for the Commissioners to sign. Participants may file Motions for Rehearing (and replies to others'). The Commissioners do not have to take up Motions for Rehearing (if they don't, the Final Order becomes final -- and appealable -- 45 days after it is signed). If they do, and grant a motion, everyone can file briefs and replies. Once the Final Order is finally final, any participant (except Staff) can appeal the order to a district court in Travis County.

Not for the faint of heart.

If you are not an Intervenor, on the other hand, what you say does not form any part of the record on which the Commission must base its decision. If you do not intervene, you have no right to ask questions of any of the participants, either in the pre-hearing discovery or as cross-examination at the hearing. The Commissioners will not deny you a chance to express your opinion -- in writing, and filed as a public record -- but they cannot consider it as evidence.

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The materials available at this web site are for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice.
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