75-20-501. Annual long-range plan submitted -- contents -- available to public -- least-cost plan. (1) Except as provided in subsection (5), each utility and each person contemplating the construction of a facility within this state in the ensuing 10 years shall furnish annually to the department for its review a long-range plan for the construction and operation of facilities.
     (2) The plan must be submitted by July 1 of each year and must include the following:
     (a) the general location, size, and type of all facilities to be owned and operated by the utility or person whose construction is projected to commence during the ensuing 10 years, as well as those facilities to be removed from service during the planning period;
     (b) in the case of planned development of utility facilities, a description of efforts by the utility or person to coordinate with other utilities and regional planning;
     (c) a description of the efforts to involve environmental protection and land use planning agencies in the planning process, as well as other efforts to identify and minimize environmental problems at the earliest possible stage in the planning process;
     (d) projections of the demand for the service rendered by the utility or person and an explanation of the basis for those projections and a description of the manner and extent to which the proposed facilities will meet the projected demand; and
     (e) additional information that the board by rule or the department on its own initiative or upon the advice of interested state agencies might request in order to carry out the purposes of this chapter.
     (3) The plan must be furnished to the governing body of each county in which any facility included in the plan under subsection (2)(a) is proposed to be located and must be made available to the public by the department. The utility or person shall give public notice throughout the state of its plan by filing the plan with the environmental quality council, the department of transportation, the department of public service regulation, the department of natural resources and conservation, the department of fish, wildlife, and parks, and the department of commerce. Citizen environmental protection and resource planning groups and other interested persons may obtain a plan by written request and payment for the plan to the department.
     (4) A rural electric cooperative may furnish the department with a copy of the long-range plan and 2-year work plan or other integrated resource plan required to be completed under federal rural electrification administration or other federal agency requirements in lieu of the long-range plan required in subsection (1).
     (5) The provisions of subsections (1) through (4) do not apply to a public utility that submits an integrated least-cost resource plan to the public service commission pursuant to Title 69, chapter 3, part 12.
     (6) A public utility that submits an integrated least-cost resource plan pursuant to Title 69, chapter 3, part 12, shall contract with the department to fund the actual and necessary costs of the department that are associated with preparing the department's comments on the public utility's plan and with obtaining other agencies' comments, as provided in 69-3-1205. If a contract is not entered into prior to the submission of the plan, the department, upon completion of its review and comment, shall bill the utility for the department's costs.

     History: En. Sec. 14, Ch. 327, L. 1973; amd. Sec. 40, Ch. 213, L. 1975; amd. Sec. 14, Ch. 494, L. 1975; R.C.M. 1947, 70-814; amd. Sec. 17, Ch. 68, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 553, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 22, Ch. 676, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 274, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 116, L. 1985; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 591, L. 1985; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 512, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 10, Ch. 157, L. 1993; amd. Sec. 234, Ch. 418, L. 1995.