More Residents To Hear From Progress Energy

About 3,500 Hernando County residents will be getting letters in the next week from Progress Energy about the company's preferred routes for new power lines.

Those routes, announced in May, haven't changed, and the county already sent out a batch of letters to residents here letting them know where their property is in relation to the corridors.

However, a new law that went into effect July 1 requires the company to notify people within a quarter mile of the preferred corridor. The company had elected to notify only those within 250 feet.

That means another 3,500 Hernando residents will get letters, County Commission Chris Kingsley said during Tuesday's commission meeting. Kingsley said a Progress Energy representative called him to explain the new notification law and how many residents in Hernando would be affected.

Cherie Jacobs, spokeswoman for Progress Energy, couldn't immediately confirm that figure Tuesday, but said the new law is requiring the company to send about 23,000 additional notification letters in nine counties.

The company is seeking permission to build two new nuclear power plants in Levy County and needs to run about 200 miles of new transmission lines to meet a burgeoning demand for power in the region. On Tuesday, the Florida Public Service Commission voted that the need is there for the power plants, but still must approve the them.

That entails public hearings before an administrative law judge. The commission agreed Tuesday to have county legal staff request that one of the hearings be held in Hernando County.

The preferred route through Hernando runs mainly along existing power line corridors.