Power Production Hindered By Old Power Lines

May 16, 2001 By Tracy Vedder

ISSAQUAH - The power from the Intalco Plant in Ferndale back into the BPA grid may not make much difference to our power crunch for one very important reason: The high-tension transmission lines are old and don't have enough room to carry the electricity we need, and won't be able to absorb the power from Intalco.

That's one of the problems President Bush's energy plan hopes to solve. Unfortunately, it's a plan many people already don't like because it involves the power of eminent domain -- or seizing property.

'Little People Can Make A Difference'

Keith and Tina Dobson find tadpoles, green space, and fresh air for them and their two boys at their rural south Issaquah residence.

"It smells so clean and fresh out here," said Tina Dobson. So they were shocked and scared when they discovered the Bonneville Power Administration wanted to put a 500,000 volt transmission line right through their property.

"There would have been a big tower," said Keith Dobson right on the edge of their property.

The Dobsons didn't have to imagine how it would look. They could see the effect with dozens of transmission lines running through the yards of homes just a few miles away.

So the Dobsons and their neighbors fought the BPA plan -- successfully.

"I felt like little people can make a difference," said Tina Dobson.

'It's Just Not Working Very Well'

But that kind of opposition has kept the western transmission system from expanding -- adding to the power crunch.

"There's a lot of power trying to get into there," says Seattle City Light spokesman Dan Williams, "and it's like a congested highway, it's just not working very well."

Seattle City Light hasn't taken a position on the president's plan, but knows if the problem isn't solved it won't matter how many new power plants are built.

"Getting that power reliably to where it's needed in California and here in Washington," said Williams, "that's just not possible now."

But if the BPA had been able to seize the Dobson's property, their home might look different today.

"Well, it's scary," said Tina Dobson. "It doesn't make you feel safe."

The Dobsons hope the voices of the "little people" aren't lost in the urgency to solve the power crunch.

http://www.komotv.com/news/story.asp?ID=11150

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 16, 2001

Answers

Isn't that called having your cake and eating it too?

You've just got to wonder, with so many people thinking this way, how in hell are we ever going to solve the electrical power problem?

-- Loner (loner@bigfot.com), May 17, 2001.

Transmission lines, that's been my hang up. Everytime I hear our illustrious Governor Davis engage in sophism about all the new power plants being built in California, I want to regurgitate. He NEVER says anything aboout transmission lines. One without the other is puerile in its worthlessness. And none of these have been strung, either, over the past 10 years.

-- JackW (jpayne@webtv.net), May 17, 2001.

Supposedly one of the items in Bush's energy plan is to give the Feds eminent domain authority, in order to build power lines. If so, that would certainly give local politicians and power companies an out with any protesting citizens: "it isn't us, its the Feds, talk to them!"

-- Margaret J (mjans01@yahoo.com), May 17, 2001.