July 23, 2008
Oklahoma

Kingfisher residents share concerns at meeting

Discussions could be heard across the room. Whispers of questions such as, “Where are you from?” “How will this affect you?” “How much have they offering you?”

Kingfisher residents and people from the surrounding area concerned about possible effects from a proposed OG&E Electric Service transmission line project met Tuesday night in the community room at Roserock Bank to discuss the project.

OG&E plans to build a series of 115-foot-tall power poles to carry 345,000 volts of electricity from OG&E wind turbines near Woodward to a power substation in northwest Oklahoma City.

Many people at Tuesday’s meeting shared their stories, questions and concerns with each other.

Arnold Smith started the meeting by sharing some information he said he had about the project.

According to Smith, utility rates will go up 25 to 75 percent in the next few years because the projects will be funded by OG&E customers. OG&E has said customers will finance the $211 million project by paying an extra $1.50 a month on their electric bills.

Smith said he thinks the project is all about profit for the power companies and not about helping the environment.

“It is not green power. It is green profit,” Smith said.

He said the fight against the project likely will be difficult because alternative sources of power are so popular right now.

“It is very unpopular to go against green power,” Smith said.

Phillip Cox said he recently purchased 13 acres of land just north of Okarche and found out a line is going across the north side of the property. His biggest concern is the health hazard the transmission lines may present.

“I am concerned about the health of the transmission lines. I know they have to get the power to Oklahoma City but there has to be a better way,” Cox said.

OG&E officials have said there are no health concerns associated with the project, which is expected to be completed by 2010. No start date has been announced.

Cox’s second concern is the land he purchased was purchased for its beauty. He said the transmission line will destroy the land’s beauty and he won’t even be paid for it.

“It annoys me that I bought the property for the beauty of it being uninterrupted and now there will be a line right across it. They are doing it in such a way that it will be 200 feet away from my property so I won’t be paid for it. So according to OG&E I have no say,” Cox said.

OG&E has the right under state law to buy a utility right-of-way easement for the line from landowners. Easements from 200 feet wide to 100 feet wide are now being acquired from property owners along the line route, a company spokesman has said.

Cox suggested, and many in the meeting agreed, that alternative solutions to this problem should be explored by OG&E.

“I would like OG&E to explore more options, like putting the line underground or the direction, so it doesn’t affect as many people,” he said. “I like the idea we are investing in an energy source locally rather than sending it overseas, but they need to be more considerate of the people they are affecting with it.”

Mike Barrackman is from Montana and has a farm near Kingfisher. He isn’t sure yet whether the line will cross his property.

“I don’t know how this will affect me. I’m not sure if it will even cross or come near my land,” he said. “I have a quarter eight miles west and one mile north. I have a sprinkler on it. If they put a tower on it will mess up the rotation.”

Barrackman said he doesn’t think anyone can change what OG&E is planning to do, and he said he wouldn’t want to live near the lines.

Brent Snider isn’t a landowner like many of the people at the meeting, but he said he lives near enough to the lines to be worried about the safety of his family.

“I’m not a landowner affected by this, but they are coming within a quarter mile of my house,” he said. “These power lines put off a lot of electromagnetic fields which is essentially radiation. I am just speaking out for my family.”

Snider has bought a device to show the level of radiation in electromagnetic fields in his home.

“I’ve tried to get OG&E to understand there are people building homes out there. The thing to do is call OG&E and talk to them. They listen and have been good to us,” said Snider.

John Brown, Piedmont city councilman, discussed not only the power line from a city prospective but from a personal perspective.

“This is like 100 feet from my dad’s house, 200 feet from my house. There are whole housing additions within a quarter mile,” he said. “This line essentially divides Piedmont in half. As far as I know Piedmont is the only town it goes through. This line runs right through the area that is the fastest growing area. It renders land useless in our fastest growing area.”

Gil Broyles, OG&E Energy Corp. manager for corporate communications, was present to hear concerns but did not speak.

By Kasey Fowler
Staff Writer

The Enid News and Eagle

23 July 2008


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