Imagine 190 foot transmission towers through the Delaware Water Gap, between Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

That’s what’s proposed by PSE&G for its Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line.  This quad/tri bundled 500kV line is HUGE, ugly beyond belief, and it’s just so big that I can hardly comprehend, there’s nothing that large that I’ve found.  Others like it are being cancelled by PJM due to lack of demand, and this one should be too…

From the Pocono Record:

Park Service report on power line plan released

Anyway, the National Park Service is doing an Environmental Impact Statement, and leading up to that is “scoping,” which, as Grant Stevenson noted yesterday at the Task Force meeting, is THE most misunderstood term.  I agree.  It just zooms over people’s heads, and comments end up being of the “I hate this project because___” and nothing that relates to what the scope of the environmental review should be.  Utter waste of time, and something to be mindful of with the CapX 2020 transmission scoping meetings coming up.

SCOPE: Range, area of coverage, breadth

So “scoping” in this sense is the range, area of coverage, and breadth of environmental review.

We had comments on the scope a few months ago, and there were something like 6,500 comments.  Yes, that’s right, SIX THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED!  At the meetings I went to, it was standing room only and the comments were notably on point, they were profound examples of those rare uplifting meetings.  Facilitation of the meetings was so good it felt like they really were interested in what we had to say.  It was all taken down by a court reporter.  THAT level of attention and appreciation is SO rare… and dig this … afterwards I RECEIVED A THANK YOU NOTE FOR PARTICIPATING.  That is a first, I’ve never gotten a thank you note from an agency for showing up and speaking out.  I’m thinking of framing it (after sending it to MN’s Dept. of Commerce).

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE – SUSQUEHANNA-ROSELAND 500kV TRANSMISSION LINE PAGE

Here’s their report:

Public Scoping Report – Susquehanna-Roseland transmission

The next step?

The NPS is currently developing preliminary alternatives for the project. Our plan is to host public meetings to present and receive feedback on these preliminary alternatives this summer. Announcements and news releases will be prepared to inform and invite the public to these meetings.

We’ll keep you posted.

It’s time to tank the TANC project.  I love the irony of beautiful shots of transmission lines, particularly where the media is finally getting it right:

“To be sure, it will be ugly.”

Yeah!  That’s a direct quote, see the article below…

This 600 mile long and $1.3 billion (somebody better put a new battery in that calculator, that estimate is WAY off) project has wrapped up every ugly aspect of transmission all in one (like almost every other project I’ve seen these days!).  Let’s see, yes, it will visually be butt ugly.  Landowners didn’t get reasonable notice.  It will have massive impact on environment, economics, and public health.  Oh, and need we mention, like the others, it’s not needed.  Look where it starts and guess how far it is from the nearest coal plants, online or on the drawing board.

Now notice all the back and forths, this isn’t just one line, each segment has at least two, if not three lines (their type gets in the way of ID’ing what’s planned.  CLICK HERE FOR THEIR MAP PAGE.

Heard enough?  Ready to do something about it?

PRE-MEETING RALLY

HOLIDAY INN — REDDING, CA

Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 2:00 PM

then

PUBLIC MEETING WITH TANC:

CASCADE THEATRE – MARKET STREET

REDDING, CA

Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 6:00 PM

ALL LANDOWNERS  ATTEND

Need more information:

Here’s the TANC site

Here’s WAPA’s TANC site

Here’s the STOP TANC site

*******************************************

From the Modesto Bee:

Big power line controversy

last updated: June 20, 2009 09:43:13 PM

The word “huge” aptly describes just about everything about the proposed electrical transmission line that would run from northeast California down the Central Valley into the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts and over to the Bay Area.

The 500-kilovolt line would stretch more than 600 miles, through more than a dozen counties and across thousands of privately-owned properties. The towers would stand up to 150 feet high. And the estimated cost starts at $1.3 billion, but likely will far exceed that.

Read the rest of this entry »