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Oct. 10, 2006
When a new transmission line is being planned in or near a community, invariably
someone will suggest putting it underground for various reasons. The proposed
Rim Rock-to-Goat Creek transmission line project in Kerr County is no different.
LCRA Transmission Services Corporation is doing the needed studies and preparing
information for filing its Certificate of Convenience and Necessity application
with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) to build the Rim Rock-to-Goat
Creek project. As part of this work, we are looking at the costs and impacts
of burying the line. Ultimately, it will be up to the PUC to determine whether
and where the line is built and whether it should go overhead or underground.
If the PUC were to decide that it should go underground, we will do it.
However, we want to make sure that the public understands that burying transmission
lines is expensive and certainly not as simple as some people would have you
believe. Recent newspapers letters and ads advocating installing the line underground
do not tell the whole story.
As we stated at the open house in May, our research indicates that installing
a transmission line underground would be at least five times more costly than
building it overhead. That’s an additional expense that would have to
be paid by electric ratepayers - on their electric bills - throughout the state.
And the PUC would have to decide if the increased costs would offset the perceived
impacts of an above-ground transmission line.
Aside from the increased costs, underground transmission lines raise significant
operational, maintenance, construction, and environmental issues that differ
from overhead lines. Also, as with overhead lines, we would still need easements
to construct and operate an underground line. In other words, underground transmission
lines do not necessarily resolve all the issues raised by recent ads and letters
in the newspapers.
We will have more specific details about these issues when we file our application
with the PUC in the next few months. We want the Commissioners to have accurate
information on which to base their decisions.
When we file our application with the PUC, we will propose a preferred route
and several alternate routes. While much public attention has been focused on
one possible route, we want to remind everyone that we have not recommended
any route yet. If you want to learn more about the project and its status, please go to our
Web page,
or call me at 1-800-776-5272, Ext. 4470. I will be glad to talk to you.
Dennis Palafox is on the staff of the Lower Colorado River Authority and
is the regulatory case manager for the proposed Rim Rock-to-Goat Creek transmission
line. |
