96                                Laws of Maryland                        [Ch. 31

tion shall not be required but any evidence pertinent thereto shall be
presented at the hearing required by Article 78, Section 54A and the
permit required by this Article shall be included in the Certificate
of Public Convenience and Necessity as issued by the Public Service
Commission.

Article 78

54A. Construction of generating station or overhead transmission
line carrying in excess of 69,000 volts.

No electric company may begin the construction in Maryland of a
generating station or any overhead transmission line designed to
carry a voltage in excess of 69,000 volts, or exercise the right of
eminent domain in connection therewith, without having first ob-
tained from the Commission a certificate of public convenience and
necessity for the construction of the station or line. The Commission
shall hold a public hearing on each application for a certificate of
public convenience and necessity in the area in which any portion
of the construction of a generating station or an overhead trans-
mission line designed to carry a voltage in excess of 69,000 volts is
proposed to be located, together with the local governing bodies of
each such area, unless any governing body wishes not to participate
in the hearing. The Commission shall take final action only after
due consideration of the recommendations of such governing bodies,
the need to meet present and future demands for service, effect on
system stability and reliability, economics, esthetics, historic sites,
aviation safety as determined by the State Aviation Commission
and the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, and,
when applicable, the effect on air and water pollution. The said
public hearing shall be advertised in a newspaper of general cir-
culation in the area affected once in each of the two successive weeks
immediately prior to the hearing. In no event shall an electric com-
pany construct, or be authorized by the Commission to construct,
such an overhead transmission line in line with, and within one
mile of, either end of any public airport runway. , UNLESS THE
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION HAS DETERMINED
THAT THE CONSTRUCTION OF SUCH OVERHEAD TRANS-
MISSION LINE WILL NOT CONSTITUTE A HAZARD TO AIR
NAVIGATION AND SUCH DETERMINATION HAS BEEN CON-
CURRED IN BY THE STATE AVIATION COMMISSION. A pri-
vately owned airport runway shall qualify as a public airport run-
way within the meaning of this section only when it shall have been
on file with the Federal Aviation Administration for a period of two
years as being open to the public without restriction.

As used in this section and Section 54B herein, the term "con-
struction" is defined to include any clearing of land, excavation, or
other action that would affect the natural environment of the site or
route of bulk power supply facilities, but does not include changes
needed for temporary use of sites or routes for non-utility purposes,
or uses in securing geological data, including necessary borings to
ascertain foundation conditions.

54B. Consolidated Public Hearing, Long-Range Plans and Estab-
lishing Rate of Charge on Generated Electric Energy.

(a) After July 1, 1972, an electric company, as defined in Article
78, Section 2 (f), in order to obtain the certificate of public con-