Photo: Brian Larson

Season of surprises

Release Date:  Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Details:

By Mike Sabo
Marissa, IL
On Dec. 7, AmerenIP held a public workshop at the Red Bud Elementary School to discuss a proposed 345 kilovolt transmission line across the Marissa Township. The preferred route, along with alternate routes, will be submitted to the Illinois Commerce Commission for approval next month. As a Navy veteran who has rendered honors alongside the Arizona Memorial, this date now holds an additional meaning to me.

About 50 yards from my back window, I will be graced with an awe-inspiring view of its power line. According to a report in the September 2004 issue of “Medical News Today,” my children will be blessed with nearly twice the risk of leukemia. Of course it not only dismisses the health of my children, but it wants my nest egg, too. In April, it was reported in “Urban Studies” that a detached home, such as mine, at this distance from one of these lines loses an average of 38 percent of its value. If a masked bandit were to hold a gun to the head of your child and demanded tens of thousands of dollars, he would be committing several felonies. What would you do?

Running the transmission lines underground would be the best solution for our community. The earth would effectively shield the electric and magnetic fields and reduce the health hazards. With no unsightly towers and power lines, property values would remain high. If we allow them to drive property values down, we lose revenues from property taxes. Then we are faced with increasing the tax rate for everyone to make up the difference or to cut infrastructure and school funding. If the public workshop was any example, AmerenIP will oppose such a proposal at every turn saying that it’s too costly, would take too much time, can’t be maintained, etc. What it won’t tell you is that it is already done elsewhere in the state and that new XPLE cables at a four-foot depth are driving the costs of underground construction down. Given its past history, and that of its partners, we are left to question its protests.

We expect Peabody’s new mine will be union. It’s promised us as much. Of course, over the past two decades it’s closed its union mines while keeping the non-union ones open. What’s different this time? Prairie State Energy told us back in 2004 that its new power plant couldn’t use “combined cycle” technology because it was only in the research stage. Eight months later, we discover that Steelhead Energy is building just such a plant over in Marion County and Envires is doing the same in East St. Louis. Are we to believe the laws of physics magically changed over one summer? When this plant comes online, Batavia and other Chicago suburbs will be getting as much as 60 percent of their power from the unit. Somehow it’s perfectly fine for them to bury transmission lines for the aristocrats in Chicago so that their townhouses and condos don’t lose value, but it’s not feasible in our community. Why do we continue to pay for the privilege of being treated like a second class citizen? I don’t think we should.

At the Marissa Township meeting Jan. 5, I intend to call on the board to adopt a resolution asking the Illinois Commerce Commission to require AmerenIP to submit a proposal using cable burying technology. I’m also going to ask that it draft a statement of support for those property holders that choose not to negotiate with AmerenIP until an underground transmission line proposal is submitted to the ICC. I hope to see you on the evening of Jan. 5.