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The county commissioners have been exchanging letters with Tri-State Generation and Transmission on the utility's power lines near Blake Field.

As of Dec. 19 the two parties had not yet reached complete agreement on Tri-State's measures to re-install the lines and avoid creating an air navigation hazard.

The commissioners discussed a letter from Tri-State and its offer to place lights on the two power line supports overlooking Blake Field's runway. Location of those two supports in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration obstruction standards has been the cause of disagreement between the county and Tri-State since last year.

Tri-State had placed marker lights on the supports voluntarily and had stated its intention to remove them once the supports and lines were re-installed. But the county additionally asked that the lights remain, and Tri-State has apparently agreed to that.

According to the BoCC's discussion on Dec. 19, the utility asks only that it be notified if any of the red marker lights goes out or fails.

Tri-state, the commissioners said, is also apparently willing to leave markers in place on its lines north of the runway, but noted a $50,000 cost for installing additional line markers by helicopter.

Commissioners also said that Tri-State is willing to relocate its lines to the west farther from Blake Field onto public lands curently designated as the Adobe Badlands Wilderness Study Area. That could occur only if the WSA is "de-listed" by Congress, and in which case Tri-State would expect others to pay costs of the move. That position, said commissioner Doug Atchley, is a change to a previous "oral agreement."

The letter, commissioners said, informs that Tri-State plans to energize its lines when final "no hazard" determination is received from the Federal Aviation Administration.

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