In 1960, the Federal Power Commission granted American Electric Power  a 50-year license to build and operate Smith Mountain and Leesville dams.

After six years of work, Smith Mountain and Leesville lakes were formed and AEP began generating electricity for commercial use.

With the application expiring in three years, AEP officials are busy with paperwork to file for a new license.

“We’ve been working on it almost five years,” said John Shepelwich, a spokesman for Appalachian Power, a unit of AEP.

Shepelwich said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approached AEP  to serve as one of seven guinea pigs for a new relicensing process.

Frank Simms, hydro support manager for AEP, said the Integrated Licensing Process was formed to address weaknesses in current licensing processes.

“I’ve been doing relicensing for about 20 years,” he said. “I think it’s the best process. It keeps you on a schedule. There may be a few weaknesses, but overall, we’re very pleased with it.”

One of the aspects of the new licensing process that most intrigues Shepelwich and Simms is its transparency. AEP created a  Web site (smithmtn.com) to allow lake residents to track the process.

Correspondence related to the license, study plans and public meeting transcripts are available online in their entirity.

“Every meeting that we have is publicized,” said Simms. “We have no meetings that the public is not able to attend.”

He added that AEP has surpassed FERC recommendations — FERC requires two public meetings; AEP has already held four.

“We want their [the public’s] input,” said Simms. “We want them to know what we’re doing.”

Currently, AEP is finalizing recommendations for the license application based on 15 studies on how the lake should be managed, including water withdrawal, navigational markers and erosion.

The studies were selected by AEP and lake stakeholders — federal and state agencies, local governments, non-governmental organizations, citizens groups and individuals.

They worked in groups and held public meetings to establish the key issues, said Simms. AEP then sent a proposal of studies to FERC, who issued a final list of studies based on recommendations from all sectors.

“I couldn’t say one study is more important than another,” said Simms. “Each has its own significance. We don’t treat any as being more important.”
The studies, in addition to all other materials presented, will be used by FERC to accept or reject AEP’s relicensing application, which has a filing deadline of March, 31, 2008.

Allan Creamer, a fisheries biologist for FERC who has been following the relicensing process, said AEP has so far met all the licensing deadlines.

“From my standpoint, personally, I have been pleased with the process,” said Creamer. “I have been pleased with how open AEP has been, the dialogue that has gone on between AEP and the stakeholders … I think they’ve made a lot of strides.”

Simms said he’s fairly confident that AEP will be relicensed by FERC in 2009.

“We want people to know we care about the lake and we take our responsibility very seriously,” he said.

Shepelwich said the lake is very important to AEP employees, many of whom can point out friends, relatives and former employees in 1960s photos of the dams under construction.

At the core, Shepelwich and Simms said AEP is part of the lake community. While  Smith Mountain Lake is a recreational hot spot in the region, it’s also a powerhouse of electricity.

“Those two dams out there were constructed by AEP for power generation,” said Simms. “People have to realize they’re living on a power plant.”