Spring Break
TVA abuses land-use power
Matthew Adair
Issue date: 8/1/07 Section: Opinions
There are lots of things people expect when they wake up in the morning: the newspaper, a cup of coffee and maybe a warm pair of slippers. A hundred-foot electrical poll lying in the middle of your front lawn is probably not among these things.
One Rockvale resident, however, received just this sort rude awakening when Tennessee Valley Authority workers left just such an object on her lawn Monday.
The pole, measuring a mere three feet wide by 96 feet long, is meant to be raised within 70 feet from her house, according to The Tennessean.
Lorie Sisk, the resident in question, told reporters that she would challenge TVA all the way up to federal court if necessary. The pole, she said, could fall on her house, which is a reasonable argument.
Severe weather knocks down trees easily in the rural community, and as isolated as some homes are in Rockvale, getting emergency assistance quickly, especially if power or phone lines have been damaged, could be difficult.
Sisk has also noted her concern with the electromagnetic radiation generated by the power lines, which others in the area have repeated. TVA has assured residents that studies relating electromagnetic fields and cancer have proven too inconsistent to draw conclusions from.
Health and home aside, the real uproar over TVA's new power line between Franklin and Murfreesboro, is that they didn't actually let anyone in Rockvale know that they were running this power line through their front yards. TVA's Web site has a map of the Rockvale area posted Feb. 27 of this year that indicates the intended placement of the new line, and Sisk was aware that an easement, where a property owner gives someone, such as TVA, the right to build on private land, was placed on her property. When she contacted TVA, however, she was told that there were no plans to place anything on the site.
What is confusing here is that the purchase of property easements is, by TVA's own statement, the first stage in establishing a new power line. It would then follow that the owners of the 42 properties affected by construction would have known when the easements were bought that TVA was going to be putting up the lines. No one knew, which means that the impact assessment TVA assembled and published in March was made without discussing these plans with the community.
This is unfair to that community.
While TVA may own the usage of the intended path of the power line, the property still belongs to its owners, who will have to absorb the consequences of the construction being done. With such a dramatic impact on the usage and condition of the property in question, it should have been TVA's responsibility to actively inform the affected residents of their plans before going ahead.
This is not to say that the power line should not be built at all. The Murfreesboro area needs an additional source of electricity - the power failures that occur here, especially during the summer months, are testament enough to that need.
The construction of a new line will benefit the area as Murfreesboro continues to expand, and as the communities around the city, such as Rockvale and others, see new subdivisions built.
No one is disagreeing with that. Such development, however, should not come at the cost of the rights of those who already have ownership of the land.
TVA has overstepped the authority and power it should have, and the affected landowners should be able to blow the whistle on them for this abuse. Civic improvements should always be made when the need for them arises, but never without the people's knowledge.
This is especially true considering the unknown impact of electrical energy running through power lines on health. While it is generally agreed among scientists that living next to a high-voltage line does not present a significantly higher risk of cancer, most would also agree that the amount of radiation emitted from these lines cannot be proven to be absolutely safe.
There is also the more probable risk of one of these lines becoming damaged in a severe storm, or a pole falling. While the poles that are being placed on this new line are very durable, it is entirely possible for part of the line to fail, endangering dozens of families and their homes, as well as the wildlife and environment over a large strip of land. All of these are dangers that Rockvale residents should have been informed of and that they should have had a chance to respond to before work began.
As it stands now, the small community is contending with noisy construction work, blocked roads and periodic power disruptions. A community meeting is planned for Friday, and residents are attempting to lobby TVA for a public meeting. Few in Rockvale think they will succeed in getting the power company to reconsider the line placement, but few question the need to stand up and fight back.
They should, and so should the rest of us. There are many things that we don't want in our backyards, and massive, unsightly and hazardous power lines are definitely high on that list.
TVA should stop and listen to the complaints being made over this project, and should work with residents to modify construction plans in a way that will satisfy everyone involved.
Now that would be giving power to the people.
Matthew Adair is a senior art education major and can be reached at matt.adair@gmail.com.
One Rockvale resident, however, received just this sort rude awakening when Tennessee Valley Authority workers left just such an object on her lawn Monday.
The pole, measuring a mere three feet wide by 96 feet long, is meant to be raised within 70 feet from her house, according to The Tennessean.
Lorie Sisk, the resident in question, told reporters that she would challenge TVA all the way up to federal court if necessary. The pole, she said, could fall on her house, which is a reasonable argument.
Severe weather knocks down trees easily in the rural community, and as isolated as some homes are in Rockvale, getting emergency assistance quickly, especially if power or phone lines have been damaged, could be difficult.
Sisk has also noted her concern with the electromagnetic radiation generated by the power lines, which others in the area have repeated. TVA has assured residents that studies relating electromagnetic fields and cancer have proven too inconsistent to draw conclusions from.
Health and home aside, the real uproar over TVA's new power line between Franklin and Murfreesboro, is that they didn't actually let anyone in Rockvale know that they were running this power line through their front yards. TVA's Web site has a map of the Rockvale area posted Feb. 27 of this year that indicates the intended placement of the new line, and Sisk was aware that an easement, where a property owner gives someone, such as TVA, the right to build on private land, was placed on her property. When she contacted TVA, however, she was told that there were no plans to place anything on the site.
What is confusing here is that the purchase of property easements is, by TVA's own statement, the first stage in establishing a new power line. It would then follow that the owners of the 42 properties affected by construction would have known when the easements were bought that TVA was going to be putting up the lines. No one knew, which means that the impact assessment TVA assembled and published in March was made without discussing these plans with the community.
This is unfair to that community.
While TVA may own the usage of the intended path of the power line, the property still belongs to its owners, who will have to absorb the consequences of the construction being done. With such a dramatic impact on the usage and condition of the property in question, it should have been TVA's responsibility to actively inform the affected residents of their plans before going ahead.
This is not to say that the power line should not be built at all. The Murfreesboro area needs an additional source of electricity - the power failures that occur here, especially during the summer months, are testament enough to that need.
The construction of a new line will benefit the area as Murfreesboro continues to expand, and as the communities around the city, such as Rockvale and others, see new subdivisions built.
No one is disagreeing with that. Such development, however, should not come at the cost of the rights of those who already have ownership of the land.
TVA has overstepped the authority and power it should have, and the affected landowners should be able to blow the whistle on them for this abuse. Civic improvements should always be made when the need for them arises, but never without the people's knowledge.
This is especially true considering the unknown impact of electrical energy running through power lines on health. While it is generally agreed among scientists that living next to a high-voltage line does not present a significantly higher risk of cancer, most would also agree that the amount of radiation emitted from these lines cannot be proven to be absolutely safe.
There is also the more probable risk of one of these lines becoming damaged in a severe storm, or a pole falling. While the poles that are being placed on this new line are very durable, it is entirely possible for part of the line to fail, endangering dozens of families and their homes, as well as the wildlife and environment over a large strip of land. All of these are dangers that Rockvale residents should have been informed of and that they should have had a chance to respond to before work began.
As it stands now, the small community is contending with noisy construction work, blocked roads and periodic power disruptions. A community meeting is planned for Friday, and residents are attempting to lobby TVA for a public meeting. Few in Rockvale think they will succeed in getting the power company to reconsider the line placement, but few question the need to stand up and fight back.
They should, and so should the rest of us. There are many things that we don't want in our backyards, and massive, unsightly and hazardous power lines are definitely high on that list.
TVA should stop and listen to the complaints being made over this project, and should work with residents to modify construction plans in a way that will satisfy everyone involved.
Now that would be giving power to the people.
Matthew Adair is a senior art education major and can be reached at matt.adair@gmail.com.
Be the first to comment on this story