Oconee County Snows Mill Route

East Walton/Bethabara 230 kV Transmission Line Project

Did GTC renege on its agreement with the owners of the conservation easement?

We have apologized to the owners of the conservation easement and other residents along Snows Mill Road because we thought we could avoid the area, and we regret that we cannot.

We are committed to working with property owners along the road to make the situation better. Our intention is to move forward with affected property owners and the conservation community by working with them on host of mitigations.

What efforts are you offering to mitigate the negative effects of the power line along this section of Snows Mill Road?

We would like to work with property owners along Snows Mill Road, both individually and as a group, to develop and implement a landscaping plan and look at other ways to improve the general appearance of the corridor.

Possibilities include a selection of pole construction options (such as slightly shorter poles, steel or concrete, placement, and finish), landscaping and other beautification actions. We’re also offering to work with the Oconee River Land Trust and similar groups to develop a statewide database of conservation easements or conduct other studies. In addition, we are willing to consider the purchase of two or three acres of land to help with the beautification or conservation improvements.

We are willing to meet with impacted residents along Snows Mill Road to jointly develop a plan.

Did GTC bow to political pressure from the Lane Creek Plantation developer and county commission?

We always listen to community leaders, residents and landowners and they all influence our decisions. If not, we’d be charged with being insensitive. We did not anticipate this level of community reaction, considering the change involved 2,300 feet along the back edge of an undeveloped section of a large subdivision. In fact, this subdivision is characteristic of this growing region and one of the reasons we need to build more power lines and substations.

We did not expect the developer to reject our verbal proposal to redesign the undeveloped part of the subdivision and buy land for additional buffering of the line. As important, the new route would have divided several large parcels of land to the south, created a new river crossing and cleared a 100-foot right of way through a mature, undisturbed forest. Most of the newly affected property owners told us they would rather the line on their Snows Mill Road frontage instead of through the middle of their property. We could not justify the cross-country impacts when a road corridor was available.

Does this violate the resolution the county commissioners passed?

We believe this route is consistent with the resolution, and we feel we’ve done everything we can to meet their requests. We are willing to meet with the commissioners to discuss the specifics further.

Can the county instruct you where to build the line?

This issue has been challenged in court before, and the State Supreme Court has consistently upheld the state constitution that grants utility siting decisions to the state’s utilities. This is to prevent one person, a group or even a county from denying the larger community the vital power infrastructure it needs. As you have seen, though, we make every effort to work with communities and elected officials to place lines in the most suitable locations.

Will you use eminent domain to place it down Snows Mill Road?

Our attempts to find an acceptable route clearly show we do not want that. We hope to provide fair compensation to property owners for easements and to work out other mitigations to avoid using eminent domain. It is used only as a last resort. Since 2000 GTC has reached agreement on more than 97 percent of our acquisitions without using eminent domain.

How many property owners are affected by each route?

The number of property owners who are affected or are in close proximity is about the same – 15 to 17 owners -- for the cross-country and roadside alternatives.

Why can’t you move the line further west (behind the Bath’ conservation easement tract)? Why don’t you run the line along Highway 78?

Two transmission lines are needed between the East Walton substation and the Bethabara substation to ensure future reliability in this area. Georgia Transmission plans to build this line to the east. Georgia Power plans to build a second line to the west of our proposed line. This will maintain a very important physical separation for added reliability in the event of tornados or other incidents creating widespread damage. A portion of the Highway 78 corridor is being considered for Georgia Power’s line. That is why the Highway 78 corridor was not considered for this line.

Won’t Georgia Power’s line along Highway 78 be enough?

No. Both lines are necessary to ensure that the grid has enough capacity to provide reliable power to this region.

If neither of these routes is optimal, why can’t you find an alternate route?

Our goal in siting this line is to meet the pressing electrical need and minimize impacts to the community and the environment. The fact is that the line has to go somewhere in this area and some property owners will be affected. We have evaluated all of the practical alternatives looking at these factors – existing land use, existing corridors, existing environmental conditions, engineering practices, costs and public input. Based on those criteria, we believe that this is the best route.

Do you routinely determine routes based on where people complain the least?

Actually, we build 50 to 100 miles of new lines each year and most are completed without public controversy. In the last four years, we’ve built more than 30 new power lines and only four areas had community opposition.

We understand that no one wants a power line in their back yard, and we also realize that additional power lines are needed to prevent power problems for entire regions of the state. Lines must be built somewhere, and our actions demonstrate our willingness to work with communities to build them in the most suitable locations.

Why not build the power line underground?

Unlike lower-voltage distribution power lines which deliver electricity to homes and businesses, high-voltage transmission lines are not frequently installed underground. Some relevant facts:

• The need for insulated underground cables and a concrete trench with truck-size manholes along the length of an underground line increases building costs 5 to 10 times, as much as $10 million a mile or more.

• When outages occur, it takes an average of 8 to 10 days to repair an underground line, instead of hours to repair an overhead line.

• Georgia has less than 25 miles of underground transmission lines (115 kV and above) at nine locations. GTC is open to using more underground lines, and future uses are most likely to be on short segments in areas where overhead rights of way are restricted.

What would it cost to build this line underground?

For the 1.3-mile area in question, the cost estimate is $16 million, not including property costs. This points out why electric transmission lines are seldom built underground – the costs could significantly increase electric rates or taxes.

Cost issues raise many important questions, such as: Why build underground here for aesthetic reasons and not other communities in the state? Who pays – will it require a rate increase or a special tax assessment to area residents?

A similar issue in the Northeast led to politicians taking on the siting work. Many years of controversy ensued, resulting in widespread power problems and a construction project of more than $1 billion.

If the county or others agreed to share the cost of underground, would you consider it?

We would if a third party agreed to pay the difference between our overhead construction cost and the complete underground construction cost.

How will you work with the property owners?

All affected property owners will be fairly compensated for the easements that we acquire. We also work with them individually on pole placement, construction planning and the like. In this case, we are also offering to partner with affected property owners to develop a mitigation plan. More information can be found on our web site, www.gatrans.com. Please see Public Property – Private Use booklet in the publications section.

There have been published reports that your EPRI-GTC Siting Model considers conservation easements as areas to avoid. Is that true?

No. The report and our siting process do not consider conservation easements as avoidance areas. The report’s charts, including Table 2.1 and Figure 2.13, clearly define avoidance locations. Most are official historic, wildlife and wilderness areas designated by state and federal agencies.

Does this mean your national siting model is broken?

No, the siting model has been adopted by many utilities because it is an effective tool for consistently applying siting standards to large geographic areas covering many square miles. However, some people confuse it with an automated system that removes professional judgment. That’s not the case. Routing decisions remain a matter of professional judgment; the siting model efficiently processes numerous factors -- including environmental concerns, density and designated historic sites -- to screen large areas. But final routing decisions still involve physical land surveying, local data, community concerns and other factors which must be considered with professional judgment.

Why did you cancel the April 21 public meetings?

They were scheduled for the purpose of providing information and taking comments on the new cross-country alternative (located behind Lane Creek Plantation). Since we are no longer considering that area, the meetings will not be held. We held public meetings on the Snows Mill Road corridor back in July 2007.

Will you change the route again if you get too much pressure about the revised Snows Mill Road route?

At this point, we feel we have exhausted all of the practical alternatives and we intend to proceed accordingly. The project schedule, and therefore the area’s electric reliability, will be in jeopardy if we do not move forward.

Do power lines cause health problems?

Electric and magnetic fields, which are associated with transmission lines and substations, surround us every day. They are natural consequences of our use of electricity. These fields are produced by lights, motors, television sets, coffee makers, hair dryers and all other devices that use electricity. Numerous EMF studies have been conducted during the past 30 years to determine if exposure to EMF is harmful. More than 20 scientific review panels have analyzed this body of research and concluded that none of these studies has established a cause and effect relationship between EMF and any harmful health effects.

We will be happy to provide scientific literature and provide magnetic field measurements on your property. Results of the largest study on this issue are available at www.niehs.nih.gov.

GTC is in the process of surveying for the new line. Our employees will meet with affected property owners and other community groups in the coming weeks. We will contact Snows Mill residents to form a group to help with beautification plans. Land agents will negotiate with affected owners for the easements necessary to complete the project. Construction is scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2008. The line is scheduled to be ready for service by the third quarter of 2011.