
Oklahoma House Representatives Eddy Dempsey, R-Valliant, and Justin Humphrey, R-Lane, will hold an interim study on the Kiamichi River in Southeast Oklahoma before the House and Natural Resources Committee in response to concerns over a proposed pumped storage project on the river.
Southeast Oklahoma Power Corporation has proposed the Pushmataha County Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project, located along the Kiamichi River in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, approximately five miles south of Talihina, Oklahoma. The project’s estimated cost is $3.1 billion.
The Pushmataha project would include a transmission line extending through Pushmataha and McCurtain Counties, Oklahoma, and Red River and Lamar Counties, Texas, to its proposed point of interconnection in Paris, TX. The project would entail the construction of a new 886-foot-long upper dam, with a 599.55-acre upper reservoir; a 13,615-foot-long lower dam, with an 887.37-acre lower reservoir; a 40-acre reregulating reservoir; a concrete pump station/powerhouse, with a total installed capacity of 1,200 MW; and a 99.96-mile-long, 345 kV transmission line.
However, some vocal citizens in the area have expressed their concerns over the project’s alleged use of eminent domain and shared environmental worries about the amount of water required.
“Southeast Oklahoma Power Corporation (SEOPC) is alleged to have threatened over 500 landowners with eminent domain and plans to remove these landowners to complete their project,” Humphrey said. “The study will review potential effects of this project on the river, wildlife, and the landowners.”
The interim study is scheduled for Wednesday, October 30 at the State Capitol.
This summer, the Choctaw Nation Tribal Council unanimously voted to oppose the project. In a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Choctaw Nation Historic Preservation Department (CNHPD) noted that “without knowing the precise project location, we have conducted a preliminary review of the Choctaw Register of Historic Places for sites located within a 5-mile radius of the project area. This search identified 36 historic archaeological sites, including 14 Choctaw Cemeteries.”
In early September, State Attorney General Gentner Drummond also sent a letter to FERC requesting the project be canned, arguing that SEOPC had not provided enough information to FERC, and that the company had not followed the proper licensing and permitting process, citynewsokc.com reports. This month, the city manager of Hugo, the Choctaw County Board of Commissioners, and all three Pushmataha County commissioners wrote to FERC to express their opposition to the project, arguing that it would reduce the “quantity and quality” of water in the Kiamichi River, which is the main source of drinking water for several districts.