PSC Rejects Plans to Build Power Line Through Boone Forest

Aug 22 - Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.)

In a decision environmentalists hailed as an important precedent, the Public Service Commission has rejected plans to build a power line through the Daniel Boone National Forest near Morehead.

The PSC said East Kentucky Power Cooperative should have looked at somewhat longer alternative routes instead of its proposed 6.7-mile, $4.9 million line. The company said it will ask for a rehearing.

The ruling Friday means a large chunk of unbroken woods won't have a 100-foot right of way running through it, said Doug Doerrfeld, chairman of the Rowan County chapter of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.

"That area has good grouse hunting and deer hunting, and the Sheltowee Trace (hiking trail) runs through there," he said.

Doerrfeld, who spoke at the PSC hearing, argued that the line should follow existing rights of way that mostly avoid public land.

The PSC agreed, and cautioned East Kentucky power and other electric utilities that "future applications should comprehensively consider the use of existing corridors in planning future transmission."

Doerrfeld said that could be important as the PSC looks at applications for other proposed power lines, including several that LG&E Energy and its subsidiary, Kentucky Utilities, want to build around Central Kentucky.

Several utilities sharing rights of way is common in some parts of the country, but "utilities in Kentucky think that's a radical idea," he said.

East Kentucky Power found little to like about the PSC decision.

"We're stunned about today's PSC order because the PSC has caused further delays on this project," said Kevin Osbourn, manager of communications for East Kentucky Power. "Tens of thousands of people in northeastern Kentucky could face the possibility of cascading blackouts" because of the delay.

The company also said an alternative route would hurt people "already struggling with rising energy costs."

The PSC said it appreciated East Kentucky's attempt to take the cheapest route, but said the extra $1 million of a longer route would cost customers only an extra penny a month.

Mary Jane Warner, the East Kentucky project manager for the line, said the cost was closer to 5 cents a month.

And, she said, a delay caused by starting over with a new route could mean buying outside power, which could cost customers considerably more.

Warner pointed out that the Forest Service had approved the line. Two environmental groups and Doerrfeld sued the Forest Service over that approval earlier in U.S. District Court.

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