May 20 - Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

David Ledew and his wife, Kathy, couldn't decide whether to take Central Maine Power Co. up on its offer to buy their home.

The utility wants to install a high-voltage power line on the Ledews' property as part of a billion-dollar upgrade of its transmission system.

Their house in Litchfield is near the rights-of-way of a 115,000-volt transmission line and a 34,500-volt transmission line.

CMP is embarking on a 10-year initiative to upgrade its bulk power transmission system, which includes 475 miles of 345,000-volt lines, plus substations and control facilities that link New Brunswick to New Hampshire and southern New England.

Municipalities along the route include Windsor, Whitefield, Winslow, Washington, Waterville, West Gardiner, Skowhegan, Somerville, Oakland, Jefferson, Litchfield, Monmouth, China, Clinton, Fairfield, Farmingdale, Augusta, Benton and Chelsea.

Power company representatives in the process of negotiating agreements with property owners affected by the project recently sat down with Ledew and his wife to work through the details.

The couple said they were told that the 115,000-volt line would remain, but the 34,500-volt line would be replaced with a 345,000-volt transmission line.

CMP wanted to expand the right-of-way for the power line by an additional 25 feet, which would have sliced through the corner of their house.

They said the company offered to purchase the property at fair market value and help them relocate. They also had the option of moving their home to the back of the 2 1/2-acre lot, away from the transmission lines.

"That would get us further away from the power lines but we had other concerns with being next to the 345 KV line they were going to build and the 115 KV line they were going to keep," Ledew said. "Those are two significant power lines."

CMP Representatives provided the couple with a 1999 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences report called "Health Effects from Exposure to Power Line Frequency Electric and Magnetic Fields," they said.

The institute is part of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Based on studies about the incidence of childhood leukemia involving a large number of households, the Institute found that power line magnetic fields are a possible cause of the cancer.

Electric and magnetic fields, also known as EMFs, are invisible lines of force associated with the production, transmission and use of electric power. The fields can be found near high-voltage transmission lines, secondary power lines and home wiring and electric lights.

Electric and magnetic fields also arise from the motors and heating coils found in electronic equipment and appliances, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The evidence of a cancer link was weak, it said, but "it was sufficient to warrant limited concern."

For two months, Ledew and his wife considered their options.

Then, CMP workers came back and said the company had decided to re-engineer that section of corridor. The power lines would instead be placed on the other side of the stream in front of their home.

"We went from a worst-case scenario to absolutely benefiting, but we'll still be within 300 feet of 115,000 and a 345,000 (volt transmission lines). That certainly doesn't alleviate our concerns.

"It's a significant upgrade they're doing to this system. It's not going to be completed for three years, and we are absolutely considering all options including selling at that point and relocating."

CMP spokesman John Carroll said there are no hard and fast standards based on scientific understanding of what causes cancer and the effects electric and magnetic fields have on a body.

"How much is safe or unsafe, there's no science to say," he said.

"It's inconclusive. By definition we don't know and can't say what's a safe or unsafe level, so it comes down to personal comfort. We don't have a definitive answer but we do know we need to get the power lines built."

Fred Bever, spokesman of the Maine Public Utilities Commission, said Maine doesn't have any standards in place for electric magnetic field radiation.

"The issue could be raised by any party but right now we don't have any particular standards in place," Bever said. "Some states do have statutes or precedents that pose a 'prudent avoidance standard." "

Sen. Philip Bartlett II, D-Gorham, chairman of the Utilities & Energy Natural Resources Committee, said there have been concerns raised about CMP transmission-line upgrades.

In the last legislative session, a bill was considered, but didn't become law, that was similar to Connecticut's transmission-line law. That law has led to many high-voltage power lines being buried.

"There's been a big battle in Saco," Bartlett said.

"CMP's upgrading a much higher voltage line right down the middle of residential areas. It's still an open case with the PUC working on trying to come up with alternatives based in large part on concerns with electromagnetic radiation."

CMP's proposed expansion in Saco would pass within 100 feet of homes and run adjacent to Saco Middle School.

The bill considered in Maine would require any transmission line capable of carrying 115,000 volts or more to be underground if it is adjacent to a playground, school or residential area.

"Ultimately, we passed it out of committee and sent it to the floor and it was held there," he said.

"We left it there in the event that Saco and Biddeford folks could have some good use for it."

Carroll said burying power lines would be extremely expensive.

"Because of the expense, we only do it when it's physically necessary," Carroll said.

There are no federal standards limiting occupational or residential exposure to power line electric and magnetic fields in the United States.

At least six states, however, have standards that limit electric field strength; two of these states also set limits for magnetic field strength.

The National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences suggests that the power industry continue its current practice of placing power lines to reduce exposures and explore ways to reduce the creation of magnetic fields around transmission and distribution lines.

This recommendation has been used in a number of state laws in the last decade.

For example, in June 2004 the Connecticut Legislature prohibited overhead electric transmission lines from being located within a specified buffer zone near residential areas, schools, day-care facilities, youth camps or playgrounds.

The law says a buffer zone must be at least as big as the existing right-of-way and requires that each proposed transmission line be assessed for the impact of electric and magnetic fields.

Some states, like California, have programs that deal with the possible health effects of electric and magnetic fields from power lines, appliances and other uses of electricity.

Bever said he expects CMP to bring forth its proposal for the upgrade running through central Maine to the Public Utilities Commission for review and approval sometime in July.

Bartlett said the Public Utilities Commission has the authority to consider the impact power line upgrades have on communities.

So people can bring forward their concerns. The utilities commission also can require a study.

"The current law allows the PUC to look at this," he said. "Power companies' studies suggest there's no impact and the other studies suggest a real reason for concern. So still, in my mind, it's an open question on what negative impact it might cause."

After CMP files, Bever said the PUC will schedule public hearings.

Carroll said a number of public reviews will be held in communities along the transmission line corridor so people can "weigh-in.

There's also the local permitting processes, he said and environmental reviews conducted by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Carroll, the CMP spokesman, most of the upgrade will be done within existing corridors but there will be some instances where the corridor must be expanded. He didn't know how many homes would be affected.

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