(a) Notice in electric licensing proceedings. In all electric licensing proceedings except minor boundary changes, the applicant must give notice in the following ways:
  (1) Applicant must publish notice once of the applicant's intent to secure a certificate of convenience and necessity in a newspaper having general circulation in the county or counties where a certificate of convenience and necessity is being requested, no later than the week after the application is filed with the commission. This notice must identify the commission's docket number and the style assigned to the case by Central Records. In electric transmission line cases, the applicant must obtain the docket number and style no earlier than 25 days prior to making the application by filing a preliminary pleading requesting a docket assignment. The notice must identify in general terms the type of facility if applicable, and the estimated expense associated with the project. The notice must describe all routes without designating a preferred route or otherwise suggesting that a particular route is more or less likely to be selected than one of the other routes.
    (A) The notice must include all the information required by the standard format established by the commission for published notice in electric licensing proceedings. The notice must state the date established for the deadline for intervention in the proceeding (date 45 days after the date the formal application was filed with the commission; or date 30 days after the date the formal application was filed with the commission for an application for certificate of convenience and necessity filed under PURA §39.203(e) or an application for a certificate of convenience and necessity for a new transmission facility subject to PURA §37.057) and that a letter requesting intervention should be received by the commission by that date.
    (B) The notice must describe in clear, precise language the geographic area for which the certificate is being requested and the location of all alternative routes of the proposed facility. This description must refer to area landmarks, including but not limited to geographic landmarks, municipal and county boundary lines, streets, roads, highways, railroad tracks, and any other readily identifiable points of reference, unless no such references exist for the geographic area. In addition, the notice must include a map that identifies all of the alternative locations of the proposed routes and all major roads, transmission lines, and other features of significance to the areas that are used in the utility's written notice description.
    (C) The notice must state a location where a detailed routing map may be reviewed. The map must clearly and conspicuously illustrate the location of the area for which the certificate is being requested including all the alternative locations of the proposed routes, and must reflect area landmarks, including but not limited to geographic landmarks, municipal and county boundary lines, streets, roads, highways, railroad tracks, and any other readily identifiable points of reference, unless no such references exist for the geographic area.
    (D) Proof of publication of notice must be in the form of a publisher's affidavit which must specify each newspaper in which the notice was published, the county or counties in which each newspaper is of general circulation, the dates upon which the notice was published, and a copy of the notice as published. Proof of publication must be submitted to the commission as soon as available.
    (E) The applicant must provide a copy of each environmental impact study or assessment for the project to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) for its review within seven days of filing the application. Proof of submission of the information to TPWD must be provided in the form of an affidavit to the commission, which must specify the date the information was mailed or otherwise provided to TPWD, and must provide a copy of the cover letter or other documentation that confirms that the information was provided to TPWD.
  (2) Applicant must, upon filing an application, also mail notice of its application to municipalities within five miles of the requested territory or facility, neighboring utilities providing the same utility service within five miles of the requested territory or facility, each county government for all counties in which any portion of the proposed facility or requested territory is located, and the Department of Defense Siting Clearinghouse. In addition, the applicant must, upon filing the application, serve the notice on the Office of Public Utility Counsel using a method specified in §22.74(b) of this title (relating to Service of Pleadings and Documents). The notice must contain the information as set out in paragraph (1) of this subsection and a map as described in paragraph (1)(C) of this subsection. An affidavit attesting to the provision of notice to municipalities, utilities, counties, the Department of Defense Siting Clearinghouse, and the Office of Public Utility Counsel must specify the dates of the provision of notice and the identity of the individual municipalities, utilities, and counties to which such notice was provided. Before final approval of any modification to the applicant's proposed route, applicant must provide notice as required under this paragraph to municipalities, utilities, and counties affected by the modification which have not previously received notice. The notice of modification must state such entities will have 20 days to intervene.
  (3) Applicant must, on the date it files an application, mail notice of its application to the owners of land, as stated on the current county tax rolls, who would be directly affected by the requested certificate. For purposes of this paragraph, land is directly affected if an easement or other property interest would be obtained over all or any portion of it, or if it contains a habitable structure that would be within 300 feet of the centerline of a transmission project of 230kV or less, or within 500 feet of the centerline of a transmission project greater than 230kV. For purposes of this paragraph, land is also directly affected if it is adjacent to a property on which a substation proposed to be authorized by the certificate of convenience and necessity will be located or is directly across a highway, road, or street that is adjacent to a property on which such a substation will be located.
    (A) Required contents of notice. The notice must contain all information required in paragraph (1) of this subsection and must include all the information required by the standard notice letter to landowners prescribed by the commission. The commission's docket number pertaining to the application must be stated in all notices. The notice must also include a copy of the "Landowners and Transmission Line Cases at the PUC" brochure prescribed by the commission.
    (B) Map of route. The notice must include a map as described in paragraph (1)(C) of this subsection.
    (C) Notice of proposed substations. Notice of each substation proposed to be authorized by a certificate of convenience and necessity to each owner of:
      (i) property adjacent to the property on which the proposed substation will be located; and
      (ii) property located directly across a highway, road, or street that is adjacent to the property on which the proposed substation will be located.
    (D) Issuance of notice prior to final approval. Before final approval of any modification in the applicant's proposed route, applicant must provide notice as required under subparagraphs (A) through (C) of this paragraph to all directly affected landowners who have not already received such notice.
    (E) Proof of notice. Proof of notice may be established by an affidavit affirming that the applicant sent notice by first-class mail to each of the persons listed as an owner of directly affected land on the current county tax rolls. The proof of notice must include a list of all landowners to whom notice was sent and a statement of whether any formal contact related to the proceeding between the utility and the landowner other than the notice has occurred. This proof of notice must be filed with the commission no later than 20 days after the filing of the application.
    (F) Cure of insufficient notice. Upon the filing of proof of notice as described in subparagraph (E) of this paragraph, the lack of actual notice to any individual landowner will not in and of itself support a finding that the requirements of this paragraph have not been satisfied. If, however, the utility finds that an owner of directly affected land has not received notice, it must immediately advise the commission by written pleading and must provide notice to such landowners by priority mail, with delivery confirmation, in the same form described in subparagraphs (A) through (C) of this paragraph, except that the notice must state that the person has fifteen days from the date of delivery to intervene. The utility must immediately file a supplemental affidavit of notice with the commission.
Cont'd...