Page 8 RAIN August/September 1978 With the emphasis on remote nuclear energy parks, minemouth coal-fired plants in the hinterlallds, electricity exchange agreements between massive regional grids and the shipping of electricity over long distances to metropolitan areas, the nation 's electric generating system is being centralized into a surreal "economy" of s ale. Extra High Voltage (EHV) transmission lines capable of carrying huge quantities of electricity are a critical feature of this misguided strategy- they are the tie that binds. If the momentum behind the expanded use of EHV lines continues unchecked, there will be hundreds of thousands ofmiles of the newest generation stretched across the country by the turn of the century. EHV lines are called the "tail of the Dragon"- the symptom ofthe much larger problem of overe/ectrification. But symbolically and strategically, this tail is being tackled by people as their point of entry in the emerging struggle to bring the production and distribution ofenergy back down to a human scale. TAIL OF THE DRAGON by Steven Ames Fluorescent tubes lit by 345 KV electric fields in New York. Powerlines: Politics of Scale Voltage in large transmission lines has steadily increased over the years in order to handle the growing trafficking in electricity From 138 kilovolts (kV) the lines were upped to 345 kV in the early ' 50s (the first extra high voltage) and to 765 kV in the lare 1960s. Although there are now some 20 ,000 miles f lines rated at or above 138 kV. our longterm experience in understanding their health impacts arc minimal. Their environmental and social impacts are already being felt. Still, the next generation of lines, between 1,200 and 1,500 kV. are already being planned for and tested. As power companies rush to swell their generating capacity, the public bears the c Sts. Small users already su bsidize the tran 'mission and distribution of their electricity far in excess of the cost to generate it. But with the new EHV lines, the di'cconomics they incur get much worse. Utilities maintain that electricity an be moved () er long distances with relative efficiency at higher vol tages. But in striving for maximum "economy" they ex ternalize certain costs of the lines-such as huge losses (electricity during transmission- onto the localitic which have to live with them. Because of where EBV lines must necessarily run, rural people in particular are being asked- even told- to bear the high social costs by power companies and government official. But across the country small farmers. landowners, rural ommunitie , ranchers and Indian reservations are mobilizing their re ources and energy to take the lines and their builder head-on. They sec several critical issues at stake over the building of EIIV lines, in luding: the serious neglect of thc health problems of a high impact technology. and the willing n e..~s to use rural people as guinea pigs in understanding its long-term con equences. the chewing up of thousands of acres of rural land and local agricultural economies to overfeed electricity to metropolilan areas. the patent abuse of eminent domain by large interests for questionable purposes at the expense of local control, and a widespread abuse of authority by power companies and governments in attempting to build the lines. Regional Protests Three areas of the nation which have seen the most persistent and hard-nosed public opposition to the construction of powerlines are the Northern Gr~at Plains. rural Minnesota and upstate New York. Interestingly, all three areas are located in northerly latitudes, have their own brands of "regional consciousness" and see the issue of EHV transmission lines as a threat to their way of life. In the Northern Great Plains people have been actively organizing for several years now in the face of the massive coal-mining and mine-mouth energy facility development that has been proposed due to the presence of vast coal deposits. As a result, says Jeanne Charter of the Northern Plains Resource Council, a strong connection has been made between ranchers. farmers, Native Americans and environmentalists in relation to the siting and impact of these facilities. Powerline foes in the Plains closely identify with this established network and most of their groups are affiliated with one of the regional resource councils involved in the energy struggle. Opponents of the lines are particularly active in Montana, where they arc fighting the imminent establishment of energy corridors (massive rights-of-way for several EHV lines) between the coal-rich southeast and the existing power grid of the Pacific Northwest. Part of that line already exists due to the construction of the Colstrip 1&2 coal-fired plant, where 230 kV lines have been mounted on 565 kV towers in anticipation of the Extra High Voltage to come. If units 3 and 4 at Colstrip are built, this would forge the first in a series of proposed corridors; the inertia would be difficult to counter. Opposition to the EHV lines is especially strong in the western valleys of Montana, where a single corridor would have a dominant impact on land-use and aesthetics. Native people of the Flathead reservation have refused outright to allow any lines to pass over their lands by right f sovereign tribal authority.
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