Square Butte Electric Cooperative. v. Hilken

Square Butte Electric Co-op (Square) (plaintiff) sought the power of eminent domain to acquire easements for its planned direct current (DC) power line and related structures. Square planned a project that included a DC transmission line from a power plant in Center, North Dakota, to a power-current converter in Duluth, Minnesota, where the electricity could be converted from DC to alternating current (AC). Customers would not have been able to use the electricity unless it was converted to AC. As a result, North Dakota residents would not have been able to access and use electricity from the transmission line without the construction of a converter, which was cost prohibitive. Square asserted that the project would benefit North Dakota. First, Square stated that the project would have increased reserve and emergency power supplies available to North Dakota customers by adding 60 megawatts (MW) of electricity supply to the regional grid. Second, Square claimed that the DC transmission line would have a stabilizing effect on the electricity-supply system and increase electricity reliability in North Dakota by reducing the incidence of low-frequency oscillations, which could lead to system collapses. Square brought an action in the Burleigh County District Court against landowners (defendants) in Burleigh County, North Dakota, who possessed land on which Square sought easements. The court found that North Dakota would receive only indirect benefits from the DC transmission line and declined to credit the effect of DC lines on low-frequency oscillations as a public benefit. The district court dismissed Square’s complaint. Square appealed to the North Dakota Supreme Court.