Ch. 540                                       LAWS OF MARYLAND

54A.

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 obtained from the Commission a certificate
of public convenience and necessity for the construction of the
station or line. Upon receipt of an application, the Commission
shall notify all interested persons, this will include the
[Department] OFFICE of [State] Planning who will be responsible
for forwarding the application to appropriate State agencies in
units of local government for review, evaluation and comment as
to the significance of the proposal to State, areawide and local
plans or programs. 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 transmission 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 insure presentation and
recommendations from interested State agencies and shall permit
representatives of those agencies to sit during hearing of all
parties. 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 Administration and the administrator of the Federal
Aviation Administration, and, when applicable, the effect on air
and water pollution, and, the availability of means for the
required timely disposal of wastes produced by any fossil fuel or
nonfossil fuel generating station for which an application is
received by the Commission after July 1, 1981. The Commission
shall allow State agencies 15 days after conclusion of the
hearing to modify their initial recommendations. The said public
hearing shall be advertised in a newspaper of general circulation
in the area affected once in each of the two successive weeks
immediately prior to the hearing. In no event shall an electric
company 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 transmission line will not
constitute a hazard to air navigation and such determination has
been concurred in by the State Aviation Administration. A
privately owned airport runway shall qualify as a public airport
runway 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.

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