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Hernando Today

Commissioners Must Defend County From Progress Energy Power Lines

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By JOHN HERBERT

From Where I Sit

Published: May 6, 2008

A law adopted by the Republican-controlled Legislature in Tallahassee promotes a greener Florida. Progress Energy and our state politicians are thumbing their noses at state homeowners, at least for now.
Attached to the energy legislation are little-noticed provisions that would allow Florida's energy companies to string high-tension powers lines just about anywhere in the state they wish. Homeowners risk losing property, faster, too, through eminent domain proceedings. We, the consumers, would also have to foot the bill for the utilities' extravagances, according to the legislative action.
By summer, Progress Energy is expected to disclose how it plans to route transmission lines between their contemplated nuclear power plant in Levy County and its Tampa Bay customer area. A major section of Progress Energy's 200 miles of new high-tension wires would stretch overhead Hernando County.
The utility's most probable path, along the Suncoast Parkway, will accentuate county health concerns, deflate already-shaky property values, interfere with both business development and emergency services at Hernando County airport.
Already a gem in Florida's sparkling superhighway system, the pastoral Suncoast Parkway would be "decorated" with 165-foot high-tension electricity towers. Ornithologists and bicyclists, beware.
The skeletal towers along the Suncoast would effectively close down the county's busy little airport. Any landmark over 50 feet high would block the airport's landing path. One of the main assets held by the county, the site features an industrial park on which county commissioners have bet the farm for airport development and expansion.
Power lines near the airport would also threaten the sheriff's air operations, helicopter rescue, a recently-added jet medevac service, a wing of Florida's Air National Guard and training by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Progress Energy's high-tension lines present a risk to fishermen and other boaters who might need emergency assistance off the choppy but scenic coast of Hernando County. The anticipated location of the power lines would also be a boon to drug smugglers and illegal immigrants who could roam more freely without being challenged by patrols out of Hernando County's airport.
Though still unconfirmed, health threats presented by high-tension power lines include dangerous buzz words like cancer, brain tumors, miscarriages and heart problems. Florida's Environmental Protection Agency, on the case, advises young families not to live or play near the possibly toxic power lines.
The EPA health warning deals a near-fatal blow to resale values in Hernando County's disastrous housing market. Progress Energy could not have helped but notice the effect radon and asbestos have already had on nervous home buyers.
If Progress Energy took time to look anxious Hernando County homeowners in the eye, they might reconsider the new lines' location. As it is, Progress Energy says in its latest ads that it's "looking at power in a new light." What does the utility mean by that? Through blinders?
The lines could run underground instead, but Progress Energy claims the alternative would be too expensive. Oh? Since when has Progress Energy been cost-conscious? The company just came up with a million dollars to award its Florida CEO a 66 percent annual raise!
How about drawing the controversial lines overland through the unpopulated eastern region of Hernando County? "No demand," a Progress Energy spokesman disingenuously explained. True enough: Progress Energy only sells Hernando County energy in only one hamlet on our southern border. Is that enough to ruin the daily lives of hundreds of Hernando County families?
Individual Hernando Countians may be angry enough to take Progress Energy, or even the state, to court to force a different power line solution. Statewide politicos can't be counted on to rebuff heavy-handed energy company lobbyists. Time for our county commissioners to adopt an aggressive stance to defend their bread and butter — the local homeowner and voter.

A regular columnist for Hernando Today, John Herbert lives in Spring Hill.

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