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ST9302-CS 941005 Wednesday October 5, 1994 50'cents Sports Hearing focuses on transmission lines By JENNIFER GOOCH Staff writer More than 100 Coppell residents filled City Council chambers Monday night to express their concerns and hear alternatives from city leaders concerning proposed TU Electric transmission lines on Sandy Lake Road. ContrOversy sparked in Septem- ber when city leaders laid plans to put ll0-foot galvanized steel poles in the median'when Sandy Lake Road e~pands to a divided, four-lane thor~ ~ :EitY erigineer Ken Griffin :led Ptiblic hearing, which included pre- s~ntations by city staff ~members, representatives of TU Electric and citizen groups opposed to the trans- nI[ssion lines. 4"I have lived with the TU issue a~ the powerline issue for a month n~w," Griffin said. "My objective is f~ the city, citizens and TU Electric t(kwork together to develop the best sblution to the transmis.sion line "My objective is for the city, citizens and TU Elec- tric to work together to develop the best solution to the transmission line issue considering aesthetics, health concerns, cost and legal rights in a timely matter." -- Ken Griffin, City engineer issue considering aesthetics, 'health concerns, cost and legal rights in a timely matter." Griffin said there basically are two options for the placement of trans- mission lines: putting them on Sandy Lake Road either on poles in the median, buried in the median or imately 12,000 feet, will result in additional cost that the city must pick up, including the cost of purchasing additional land for mini-substations. Also, consideration must be made for both sides of Denton Tap Road in case. plans are made later for de- velopment west of the street. moved farther south; or take the :Placing transmission poles in the lines down a different route, m~dian is ~pPoSed by many Coppell Bothofthose options, Griffin said, re~iden.ts:because of the displeasing will cause dissatisfaction among aeSttietics, the added potential some Coppell citizens or T[I Electric health,.l~aZard from possible electro- representatives. ' magnetic fields emitted by the poles B,u_rying the lines on Sandy Lake · and Vehicle safety concerns, Griffin Road from Denton Tap Road to said., MacArthur Boulevard, approx- Chal!enges'.of placing the poles farther south of the roadway include the facts that it would place the lines closer to residents' homes, limit fu- ture expansion of Sandy Lake Road and add cost to the city for road easements without solving the aes- thetics problem. Griffin also said re- sidents have expressed concerns about vehicle safety if the poles are placed farther south. "I really don't see a safety issue for cars with the poles on the south side because the roadway will have better drainage, so that in inclement weather you will have better control of your vehicle," he said. Rerouting the lines through other parts of the city or outside city limits also poses problems, according to city staff, TU Electric and residents, Griffin said. Moving the route to the north would put lines in Lewisville, which is serviced by other utility companies. TU Electric would have to obtain prior consent from those Turn to HEARING, Page 8A Possible health hazards a concern for residents By JENNIFER GOOCH Staff writer Some residents came to a pub- lic hearing Monday to speak their minds and hear city leaders and TU Electric representatives address their concerns over the possible health hazards of prop- osed electric transmission lines. Resident Becky Chairez pre- sented city leaders with a petition 'containing more than 450 signa- tures, representing 1,400 resi- dents:' ~e petition asks the lead- ers to seek more cost estimates for the project and come up with more project alternatives. Chairez said she and other resi: dents are concerned that electro- magnetic fields emitted by the transmission lines might be linked ~to breast cancer, leukemia, Alzheimer's disease and birth de- fects. No conclusive studies have been released showing direct links to these ailments; however, many studies are' in progress around the world. In a formal presentation made at.the hearing, Chairez said through her research she has dis- covered reports that state EMF has been directly correlated to lo- wered real estate values because of the health issues. Turn to CONCERNS, Page 8A H earing rOU to ever ,sifion a that ~pting ion to dems ~lease (cite- of the tt you corn- dated From lA companies. Rerouting to the north or south also would require obtaining owner consent and would result in addition- al length, thereby adding extra cost, Griffin said. Also, changing the routes requires a Public Utilities Commission hearing, which could take up to a year to schedule. Griffin and council member Candy Sheehan met with Public Utilities Commission representatives Sept. nidpal 27 to discuss the rights of the city itation 'and the rights of TU Electric. ant be According to Griffin, TU Electric antic. :y was impor- zone apping i. mayor e have totry e zone of the )urden .~quire- tlved." )te in a June 7 . Chief mend- ance to .~riod in would neither ; would )arking owns the land easements where the current poles are located. At this time, TU Electric can upgrade those wooden poles, which carry 69,000 volts, to the the galvanized-steel poles, which carry 138,000 volts. "(TU Electric), giving 30 days notice to the PUC, can go on Nov. 3 and put up the poles," he said. Another option, Griffin said, is that/he city could make Sandy Lake Road a six-lane road, thereby leav- ing no room on the south side for the transmission lines. "We can work with them or against them in that category," he said. District manager Kirk King said TU Electric is willing to work with the city to come up with the best possible solution. "This isn't an 'us against them' issue," he said. "That is not the way nue to o docu- He is ttorney .~quests ,ithheld rich he ,m lA middle g on the ;75,000 lents to million y school )ace for )roposal t for lan- d for the s at all t Concerns we do business. We are willing to put (the transmission lines) in the me- dian at no cost to the city. From an engineering and a financial stand- point, that's a win-win situation." Kyle Ray, manager of project en- gineering for TU Electric, Said three substations service the city: one each in Coppeil, Hackberry Creek "The only underground lines de- and Valley Ranch. The Coppell sub- velop, ed in Texas are to provide a station can'ies 26 percent of the load .service where it is physically im- in the city and the other 74 percent is possible to have overhead service," shared by the Hackberry Creek and Valley Ranch substations. Ray said a line down Sandy Lake Road also is needed because the two sources serving the city are from Roanoke and Argyle and if one line were to lose service/the other line would not support all the load needed to serve the city. The Sandy Lake Road line would serve as a backup. Other routes studied by TU Elec- tric officials included Northwest Car- rollton to Coppell; a southern route out of the Northlake Power Plant and along the railroad tracks adja- cent to Belt Line Road; and up the Denton Tap Road median to Sandy Lake Road. Burying the lines along Sandy Lake Road would require 12 ter- minations, four dead-end struc- tures, a 2,000-gallon pumping plant, five manholes, 10 splices, 72,000 feet of conductor wire and 39,920 gallons of oil to dissipate heat. Ray said TU Electric rates hre based on such overhead.. "That is the only way that we can adequately and equitably apply our rates," he said. tUres? · How many of you would move if the above-ground project is con- structed? · How many of you are willing to pay some money to find and fund a better Ray also said the 69,000-volt lines on Sandy Lake Road currently are not carrying any power. King said the Public Utilities Com- mission will not allow the buryingof lines solely for the purpose of con- taining the potentially harmful effects of electromagnetic fields. ~ a formal presentation concerning his research on the effects of EMF on the human body. "Links between high power lines and effects on the human body. not only have a dramatic affect on repro- duction but also on cell structure," he said. "We must manage electric- ity and not let it manage us." Paul Zweiacker, one of 10 men and women appointed nationwide by the Department of Energy to study EMF and an employee of TU Elec- tric, addressed r~sidents' concerns about the potentially harmful emis- sions. When asked if less exposure is From lA ~'In the January/February 1994 issue of Public Citizen magazine, it alternative? states, 'While the debate sizzles on · How many of you think we cannot the effeC4s that EMF may have on afford any negative side effects? humans, ~ae issue of powerline safe- ' Pat Moriarty, a resident who lives ty is jolti[g the real estate market, near Sandy Lake Road, also made Realtors report that some clients won't get out of their car to look at a home for sale with the view of a power line,' "she said. She also said that through her re- search she found "citizen group re- sistance around the country has cost utility companies up to a billion dol- lars as a result of lost revenues from canceling projects to delaying new transmission lines and the cost of rerouting existing lines." Most of the residents at the hear- ing raised their hands .when Chairez asked these questions: · How many of you moved to yo~t~r h°mes because there were ~- rounding massive powerline ~ 1111[. he said. Coppell resident Becky Chairez said at the hearing that she has more than 450 signatures on a petition that asks city leaders to seek more cost estimates for project costs, address project safety and alternatives and avoid setting a "dangerous" prece- dent. Another resident, who did not state his name, said he would like to See TU Electric lower its profit mar- gin by taking up more of the project's cost to maintain a go.od relationship with its clients -- the residents of Coppell. King said, "The PUC scrutinizes everything we do and often decides we are too generous," but he also has no objections to looking into it. Councilman Ron Robertson said the city would have to sell $13 million in bonds to pay for the burial of the power lines. That Would raise annual taxes to about $130 for a home valued at $100,000 with no exemp- tions. Council members voted in September to delay the project until all alternatives are studied. sadly." One study placed volunteers next to EMF from a computer ter- minal. When the unit was turned on, the subjects' heartbeats increased by two beats. But after continued ~ exposure the beats returned to not'- mai. The beats also increased when the unit was turned off. ~ King said TU Electric is coh.- cerned about possible harmful EMFs because most of its em- ployees are exposed to more than the average resident. King provided a study of 1,~' homes in which typical sources Df EMF were measured. The highel~t came from motor-driven clocks (~4 milligauss), while the lowest came from appliances more than 10 feet away (0 milligauss). A fluoresceOt light measured at .21 milligaus$; power lines measured at 10 milli? gauss, color televisions measured ig. 12 milligauss and refrigerators mea- sured at 6 milligauss. Mayor Tom Morton said the cit7 has not hired a Consultant to study the effects of EMF. better, Zweiacker said "not neces-