Dec 2 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Mike Corn The Hays Daily News, Kan.


In droves, people in suits, jeans and cowboy hats dropped by the Plainville Elementary School cafeteria Monday evening, ready to stare at a series of maps with green, orange and red lines drawn through them.

Dozens more did the same thing again Tuesday night in Smith Center.

The goal of the open houses in Plainville and Smith Center was to pass along information to landowners -- especially those within 1,000 feet -- of where a 345,000 volt power line is expected to be built.

It's the second phase of a line proposed by ITC Great Plains, which already has received permission to build a line from Spearville to Hays.

In the second phase, the line would continue north from Hays to the Nebraska border.

While the second phase of the line would originate at a substation northwest of Hays, its exact track remains uncertain.

ITC had a series of maps set up around the cafeteria showing proposed routes, those developed by aerial surveys.

One route would head almost due north, passing to the west of Stockton and continuing north a few miles east of Phillipsburg.

The other two routes would pass east of Stockton. One would split Smith and Phillips County, while the third would pass just west of Smith Center.

Joe Kirik, a spokesman for Michigan-based ITC, the parent company of ITC Great Plains, said the Smith Center meeting is not a suggestion that they are favoring the eastern-most alternate route.

Both open houses, he said, provide an opportunity for landowners to learn about where the line will go, but also let ITC learn from landowners.

Bill Tripp, director of design for ITC Holdings, told of how the line might be constructed, as well as the construction of a new substation adjacent to the Goodman Energy Center northwest of Hays.

Previously, the line had been broken up into segments -- from Spearville to the Knoll Substation northwest of Hays and then from that substation to Axtell, Neb.

Instead, the first phase of the line will go from Spearville to what will be known as the Wolf Substation, named for property owners in the area, and then north to the Nebraska border. Midwest Energy then will be able to connect its Knoll Substation to the Wolf station.

The second phase of the line is about 85 miles long.

Once the line is built, Tripp said, ITC will contract with Sunflower Electric and Midwest Energy, whose territory the line will cross, for maintenance.

"We're not going to have a maintenance team down there," Tripp said.

ITC Great Plains will be responsible for repairs in the event of catastrophic failure, but general maintenance will fall to the two utilities.

The lines, he said, will either be supported by H-shaped structures or monopoles -- single poles that have insulators supporting the lines.

Currently, ITC is having an analysis done to determine which structure will be most cost efficient.

"I believe it's going to be the monopoles," he said.

Construction of the second phase of the project must first receive approval by the Kansas Corporation Commission. Prior to that, the KCC will conduct a public hearing in the area where the line will be constructed.

(c) 2009, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services