subject: Power Transmission Lines: Pros And Cons [print this page] Texas Energy Services from Dynowatt Living in a community is usually a very pleasant thing. When people work together, the quality of life increases for everyone involved. Not only can you go next door to borrow a cup of sugar, but flourishing communities allow for streamlined and enhanced infrastructure. Public utilities, including electric service, tend to be better when more people are grouped together. In the coming decades, America's urban and suburban centers will certainly experience population growth. Federal and state authorities are planning accordingly, ensuring that infrastructure is expanded and bolstered to meet the increase in demand.
One of the most important public services, of course, is the electricity provided to your home. The juice is provided by an extensive network of power lines running from power plants to transformer stations and through residential areas. As is so often the case, people have concerns when power authorities announce the construction of new or greater-capacity power lines in their neighborhood. High-voltage power lines and all that come with them are a necessary part of modern living, and are one of the tradeoffs we make in order to live the way we do. This issue is particularly important in the Lone Star State, which is building up to accommodate millions of new citizens and next-generation green power sources. As utilities are planning new high-voltage lines, residents in the path of those lines are voicing their concerns.
Texas, already blessed with extensive petroleum and natural gas resources, is lucky enough to be a center for the production of Texas electricity from wind. While the Dallas-Fort Worth area is not going to be studded with turbines anytime soon, it will benefit greatly from the existing and planned facilities in the Texas Panhandle and West Texas. Though the wind flowing from the Rockies won't reach DFW, the electricity generated by the land will, so long as planned high-voltage lines are constructed.
Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe, a reporter for the Denton Record-Chronicle, detailed Oncor's recent outreach efforts amidst plans to build a new conduit to transmit electricity from the proposed Krum West switching station to one that already exists in Anna. People who live in the designated path of the lines have many concerns. When this happens, Oncor and other authorities do their best to accommodate as many people as possible while ensuring that these kinds of Texas energy projects go forward.
The biggest concern is probably aesthetic. It's definitely true that long-distance, high-voltage power wires aren't the most attractive accessory for your backyard. Not only do they diminish the view, but they require land to be cleared. Unfortunately, there isn't much that can be done about this. When planning transmission projects, agencies such as Oncor do their best to minimize the impact. Heinkel-Wolfe credits an Oncor spokesman with saying that officials would meet with citizens in the area of the new lines and bring wax crayons and maps, allowing ordinary people to have input as to where the wires are placed.
Another concern is the possibility of health problems being caused by all of those electrons flowing through wires that are sometimes very close to people's homes. In the past, citizens have raised concerns about the lines causing leukemia in children, in addition to other diseases. This kind of fear makes a lot of sense; electromagnetic fields are invisible and uncontrolled electricity can be quite scary. Fortunately, the medical literature holds that these fears are unfounded. Dr. John W. Farley explored the history and proposed methodology by which the power lines could cause health problems, and summed it up by calling it a "health scare" that has no foundation in reality.
In the end, necessity will dictate where and how fast new power lines are planted in the countryside. The Texas State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) points out that, "The greatest challenge facing the wind industry is that wind farms can be built more quickly than transmission lines." In fact, SECO estimates that a wind farm can be built in a year, while it takes five years in order to complete the infrastructure needed to get that electricity to cities.
Whether you live in the middle of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex or are out in the country, new power lines may soon bisect the air above you. The good news is that those wires will be carrying the renewable, clean-generated Texas electricity that will help the United States become energy independent and continue to lead the way when it comes to technology and innovation.
