Connecticut HV Power lines

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=30 BGCOLOR="#0066CC" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" width="100%" style=" border-left: 1px solid #3366CC;" BGCOLOR="#000066" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B>Tulbagh Info Information</B></div> <div> Connecticut HV Power lines</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="120" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#0099CC HEIGHT= 15 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="local_news.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tulbagh News Page 2"><U>Back to Local News</U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>Connecticut Utilities Are in for a Battle over Proposed High-Voltage Line</B> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><I>By Stacy Wong, The Hartford Courant, Conn. -- Oct. 7</I> </FONT></div> <bR> <div> Connecticut Light & Power learned a lesson during its two-year battle with feisty western Connecticut residents who held out for concessions on a 20-mile power transmission line through their neighborhoods. </div> <div> So before seeking permits for a second, longer line into the region, CL&P and a partner put together a carefully orchestrated campaign to promote the idea -- complete with colorful kiosks, maps and fact-sheet handouts in communities along the 69-mile route between Middletown and Norwalk. </div> <div> But as CL&P and partner United Illuminating prepare to apply to state regulators this month, opponents have been raising money and hiring lawyers and consultants. </div> <div> And whether the utilities and residents find common ground could boil down to the same two questions that, in the end, resolved CL&P's previous battle: How much of the power line can go underground, and where? </div> <div> "Whether this goes through or not, that's not the issue," said Trish Bradley, a Durham mother of five and president of the newly formed Communities for Responsible Energy II. "The issue is, do it responsibly." </div> <div> The prelude to the application filing has been as much marketing as regulation. The utilities have pushed the line as a means to improve power reliability. Opponents say it would damage the landscape, property values, and perhaps their health. </div> <div> The project would be the state's biggest electricity transmission project in three decades -- since a 72-mile line between Southington and Pleasant Valley, N.Y., was completed in the 1970s. </div> <div> It would complete a two-phase plan to ship more electricity into power-poor southwestern Connecticut, one of the weakest sections of New England's power grid. Regulators approved the first phase, a 20-mile line from Bethel to Norwalk, earlier this year. </div> <div> The second phase comes up for review at a time of heightened concern about power reliability in the wake of August's multistate blackout. That system failure left 50 million people without electricity -- including thousands in southwestern Connecticut. </div> <div> The Fairfield County portion of the line would be underground, but most of its route through New Haven and Middlesex counties would be overhead. </div> <div> Opponents complain that massive transmission towers required for overhead sections would ruin the landscape and the values of homes, and they worry about radiation from the line's electromagnetic field. The same concerns punctuated an angry debate over the first-phase line, a discord resolved after CL&P agreed to put more of the line underground. </div> <div> Phase 2 calls for replacing a pair of 115-kilovolt lines with a 345-kilovolt line. The bigger line would have to be strung on taller towers along some parts of the route, most of it along the current lines' right-of-way. </div> <div> The existing, 57-foot-tall towers just beyond Bradley's backyard would be replaced by 125-foot towers that would jut above the tree line. In addition to the impact of the towers, Bradley and her neighbors worry about health effects. </div> <div> "The fear factor is huge," homeowner Kathy Bert said. "I was reluctant to move in with these [existing] lines until I researched them. Imagine researching the big one." </div> <div> Opponents want more of the line buried. The plan calls for 24 miles to run underground in densely populated Fairfield County. That's why towns such as Westport have not objected to the line. </div> <div> But 45 miles woud be above ground. </div> <div> Dennis Hrabchak, vice president of regulatory affairs at UI, told residents at a community meeting in Durham that the utilities would be flexible. "If we need to find a way to put more underground, we will," he said. </div> <div> But utility officials later said it would probably not be technically feasible to put much more of it underground. CL&P spokesman Frank Poirot said the proposed underground portion would already make it the longest such stretch in the state, and one of the longest in the country. </div> <div> Marcia Wellman, UI's spokeswoman for the power line, said consultants from a unit of General Electric are studying the project. </div> <div> "I would say we have some of the best engineers in the country working on this solution," she said. But she said the company is not optimistic that a lot more of the line can be buried. </div> <div> Wellman said the application would include a detailed study showing that electromagnetic radiation levels will go up "only slightly" from levels produced by the existing smaller lines. </div> <div> Opponents said that, on the basis of the debate over the first phase, they don't trust the utilities. Residents near that route said CL&P told them more of the line could not go underground. But after about two years of fighting, CL&P worked out a last-minute compromise to bury more of it -- at greater expense. </div> <div> The Connecticut Siting Council approved that compromise, but an appeal by the city of Norwalk is under review. </div> <div> CL&P is the sole developer of the first line, which is entirely in its service area. UI is a partner in the second line because part of the line would be in its territory. The siting council has one year after the application is filed to make a decision. </div> <div> To prepare for hearings, residents in Durham, Middlefield and Middletown organized committees to handle details ranging from press relations to raising money to hire a lawyer. </div> <div> For a fund-raising tag sale last weekend, they rented a crane and raised it to the height of the proposed new towers. </div> <div> Some 14 municipalities along the route have agreed to spend $100,000 on a consultant, as well as a facilitator to help reach agreement on critical issues and avoid conflict over parochial concerns. </div> <div> For their part, CL&P and UI created a public communication campaign, complete with its own logo, portable orange and silver information kiosks, and matching handout materials that were schlepped to community meetings across the state. </div> <div> Poirot declined to say how much the kiosks and the campaign cost. But he said CL&P learned from debate about the first line that there was a great hunger for project information, including maps showing possible routes. </div> <div> If approval is granted next year, construction could begin in 2005 and be finished in 2007, Poirot said. Federal energy officials have stipulated that if the line is completed in 2007, the costs will be shared by ratepayers in the six New England states. </div> <div> In the end, Poirot said, towns need to look beyond their borders. "The transmission line upgrades are designed to benefit an entire region, not just one town," he said. </div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" width=28 style=" border-top: 1px solid #0066CC; border-left: 1px solid #0066CC;border-right: 1px solid #0066CC; border-bottom: 1px solid #0066CC;" BGCOLOR="#0066CC" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>