Utilities fight Conn

Utilities fight Conn. EMF bill aimed at forcing them to reroute or bury planned 69-mile line

Platts T&D - 03/10/2004

Northeast Utilities and United Illuminating Thursday strongly opposed a bill that would prevent new high-voltage power lines from being located near schools, playgrounds, and churches to protect children from supposed electro-magnetic field (EMF) dangers. According to the utilities, the bill would have huge cost impacts and will likely make siting new transmission lines problematic.

The bill (HB 2205) is sponsored by several representatives from towns that would be affected by a new 69-mile line which the two utilities want to build between Middletown and Norwalk.

Towns including Milford, Derby and Wallingford are demanding that the companies either put the line underground or reroute it to the south to avoid their neighborhoods.

The bill would require that new or upgrades of existing 345-kV lines be at least 1,200 ft. from schools and other facilities used by children. Lower voltage lines would be set back lesser distances.

In testimony to the Connecticut Legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee, NU Director of Transmission Projects Robert Carberry said the bill would have a major cost impact on new projects that would be passed onto consumers, and would also make many existing rights of way unusable. He said the bill would force the utility to reroute several sections of lines, not just those that are near the bill’s targeted areas.

Carberry also presented several scientific reports he said show that EMF poses no health risk. He said the legislature “should not impose such costs on Connecticut consumers without a rational basis for doing so.”

UI officials also complained that the bill would duplicate authority already given to the Connecticut Siting Council to review whether proposed projects posed “undue health risks.” In the case of the disputed line, the CSC recently asked the Connecticut Department of Health to issue a special opinion on the EMF risks.

Proponents of the bill dismissed the utility assertions in their testimony at the hearing. The bill was also opposed by Donald Downs, chairman of the Connecticut Dept. of Public Utility Control, who said it would limit new transmission projects in the state, endangering reliability. It appears likely the House will act on the bill in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the CSC has just completed a series of town meetings on the Middletown-to-Norwalk project and will begin formal evidentiary hearings March 23 in hopes of making a decision on the permit during the summer.

NU and UI had originally estimated the line will cost $604-million. They say they have not yet determined how much more it would cost to reroute the line if the siting bill is adopted.