500-plus sign canyon petition; Residents opposed to power lines
A petition asking the Texas Legislature to pass a law that would prohibit high-voltage power lines in the northern end of Palo Duro Canyon continues to grow with 522 signatures late Wednesday.
The petition, posted online at www.protectcanyon.com on Sept. 16, is now the focus of a group called Protect North Palo Duro Canyon which is led by members of the Currie family, who own land along the route proposed by Sharyland Utilities.
The lines would be part of a network of transmission lines intended to harvest wind energy in West Texas.
Signatures on the petition are from local people as well as people from as far away as Wyoming, Arkansas and California.
Sharyland is considering several routes for the lines that cost about $1 million per mile to build. Two cross the north canyon on the shortest route from a proposed substation near White Deer to another planned for the Hereford area. Another route crosses the canyon to the south of the area in dispute, and others go around Amarillo to the west near Wildorado.
Another route opposed by other landowners goes south of Amarillo roughly along Sundown Road. At the Tuesday meeting of Randall County commissioners, Beverly and Bev Dampf again urged commissioners to join the fight against that route.
Sharyland will apply in April for permission from the Texas Public Utilities Commission to build along suggested routes.
The opponents of the canyon routes have also sent 11 letters explaining their positions to the PUC. Some are from Currie family members.
The letters express concern not just for the aesthetics of the area, but also for Indian burial sites near there, nesting bald and golden eagles, erosion from construction and maintenance activities, and fire from lightning strikes in the rough terrain with stands of dense brush.
PUC members will consider various factors when evaluating applications like Sharyland’s. Those include community, historical and aesthetic values. Other factors are whether lines would go along existing compatible rights of ways and conform to “the policy of prudent avoidance,” according to a letter from PUC commissioners.
By Kevin Welch
Amarillo Globe-News
26 November 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
Some possibly related stories:
- Landowners meet with utility over power lines
- Editorial: Wind hearings open to public
- Palo Duro Canyon deserves protection from power lines
- Public can sound off on energy-line options
- Wind firms describe plans; Wiring could begin in 2010
- Transmission lines a highly charged subject; As routes planned, concerns arise
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