Page l O RAIN August/September 1978 tower can cover one mile- and 30 miles of the most minimal right-of-way can easily consume a thousand acres of prime agricultural land. Diagonal crossings raise major problems for field work and lines can render some irrigation systems useless. Farmer must pay taxes on land consumed by a line and can be held liable for damage to the line or accidents that happen because of it. There is not much of a market for farms up for sale n ar EHV line routes-except perhaps absentee corporate landlords. In all, the lines are part of a system that helps to eliminate small family farms and the local land-based economy. A narion that opts for proliferation of these corridors must necessarily reduce its priorities for a stable agricultural system. Centralizing Power Centralizes Authority Such impacts and the ability of the utilities and energy authorities to apply them with little restraint raises a central question of the abuse of authority. Even in the early stages of EHV line construction it has been apparept that authority has ornetimes been effectively pre-empted by the power companies and tacitly delegated to them by state agencies and courts caught up in the inertia that such large projects generate. This has been particularly evident in the procedural fog used to obscure the data on just how much need for electricity actually exists, or how different data or end-uses of energy could result in greatly lowered estimates. Powerline protesters in all regions have tried to open tlrese questions up to wider public debate from the exclusive realm of power company experts. Another aspect of that inertia is how much the "public service" feature of the power authorities and distribution cooperatives has seriously eroded. They are increasingly acting like privately owned utilities in their energy planning and lack of responsiveness to local constituents. This fact is stressed time and again whcn one speaks to public interest advocates and powcrline protesters who have watched the push for EHV line . The rural power cooperatives in Minnesota, for example, theoretically respond to the needs of local people through representation on their boards. But in reality, the local reps don't have any real power and their objections to such projects are overruled; instead, the co-ops are run by managers and e perts who base their support of EHV lines on the economic logic of thc larger power associations to which they belong (or " cartels," as one farmer calls them). Maverick coops have tried to opt out of these associations over the EHV issue without su cess. Clearly, an increasingly centralized energy production and distribution system will reduce the options of rural communities to exercise their own priorities. It already has in such places as Pope County, Minnesota, where the commissioners voted "no" and the state said "yes." Its overwhelming thrust is to take rural people's control over their lives out of their own hands and put it in the hands of a remoter interest which simply can't be as concerned with their livelihood. Such relinquishment might be more necessary in metropolitan areas with their complexly interlocked systems of meeting human needs. But in distant rural areas it must ultimately undermine me power of the community to function self-reliantly and freely-it is cultural destruction from afar. And rural people know thi on a gu t level. Linking Up Over Energy Their resp nse to this kind of threat as it is played out in the unrelenting construction of EHV lines has been varied. Most of these rural folks have treated their experiences as first-class political education, as they have had to deal with the prerogatives of remote authorities, agents provacateur sent afield by power companies, and the persistent neglect of public officials. Many, for the first time in their lives, have engaged in the confrontation of legal authority and the use of direct action. Some find themselves perplexed and apathetic after several years of sustained opposition; but others are getting fired up, entering politics or going after the politicians. In all, a lot of rural people-often wholly conservative and always concerned about their communities-have had their heads turned around by the directions that the technology of inhuman scale will take this country if we let it, and how that direction can be changed with the right effort. The education factor can't be underestimated, says Ellen Rocco of New York state, a powerline activist. Any initial defeats will be absorbed by the awareness that is occurring across that state. These people will have a head start in organizing for the next round. Indeed, as powerline people in dozens of states educate and organize to take on the proposed EHV lines across the country, they are starting to draw connections between their own concerns and those of other groups involved in energy siting and development issues. These connections include: the recognition that a whole range of energy facility siting issues, such as new thermal and nuclear plants, coal gasification and slurry pipelines, and EHV transmission lines, can be seen as functions of the same problem. • an understanding that citizens seeking equity in energy development have different points of entry, whether through environmental impacts or rate reform, and that they need to cooperate with each other in seeking solu tions. • the realization that conservation and transitional technologies can usher in a new era of decentralized, renewable energy sources that can effectively eliminate the need for massive grids, exchange agreements and EHV transmission lines. Such connections have encouraged powerlin<; activists to link up in a network that can help avoid the isolation of small groups working in the hinterlands on their own issues. In order to strengthen ·the nation-wide network of activists involved in energy-facility siting issues, a National Conference is being held September 16 & 17, 1978 in Lowry, Minnesota, one hour west of the Twin Cities. Conference planners hope as many people as possible involved in powerline struggles and other energy facility siting questions can come to share information and strategies. There will be no registration fee for this conference and out-of-region participants will be housed by local people. The Environmental Policy Center is helping to coordinate the conference and is looking for potential sponsors to help cover the costs, including air fare for longdistance participants. If you can help them or would just like to attend, contact Jack Doyle at: Environmental Policy Center 317 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E. Washington, DC 20003 2021547-6500 Rural People and Regional Strategies There are of course a range of strategies that could be pursued by powerline activists. For example, they could focus on a certain inevitability of EHV transmission lines and set
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