Join us for a historic decision

On Wednesday, October 16th, the Bellevue City Council will hear five appeals challenging an examiner’s recommendation to approve the South Bellevue segment of PSE’s Energize Eastside project. This is arguably the most consequential appeal the council has considered in decades. Nearly six years after PSE unveiled its plan to build an expensive and harmful transmission line, six council members will decide the project’s future in Bellevue (Jennifer Robertson is recused).

Will council members protect neighborhoods and thousands of valuable urban trees? Will they acknowledge residents’ concerns about a major construction project within feet of 50-year-old petroleum pipelines that have injured or killed people in Bellingham and Renton in the past few decades? Or will they bend to the will of a superficially regulated monopoly that pursues this project to increase revenues for its foreign owners?

• What: Appeals to Bellevue City Council
• When: Wednesday, October 16, 6:00 pm
• Where: Bellevue City Hall, 450 110th Ave NE

Council members will weigh the arguments and the record.

What are we appealing?

The main points of the CENSE appeal are:

1. PSE did not provide data to show growing demand for electricity on the Eastside. The Hearing Examiner erred when he dismissed, without comment or explanation, a joint motion by CENSE and CSEE to compel PSE to provide relevant data and analysis to prove the need for the project.
2. PSE divided Energize Eastside into two separate projects in Bellevue, doubling the number of hearings and appeals needed to start construction. PSE did not provide a compelling technical explanation for this decision.
3. PSE did not provide unbiased evaluations of alternative technologies and alternate locations as required by Bellevue’s land use code.

What will happen?

Lawyers representing PSE, the City of Bellevue, and CENSE will provide summary arguments to the council. Each side will be provided 30 minutes to make their points. Council members can vote to accept or reject the Hearing Examiner’s recommendation, or remand it back to the Hearing Examiner to fill gaps in the record. The council could also delay a final vote until a future meeting.

Why should you come?

Your presence at the hearing will show council members that Bellevue residents care about the future of our city. Please come and wear orange to show your support for CENSE. No public testimony will be taken at this hearing.