Transmission companies are terrible copycats. When one of them comes up with some really stupid argument to support their proposed transmission project, others soon follow. Mostly, this is just entertainment.
Except for this... this one is just plain dangerous, both to the humans forced to live with transmission lines built across their farms using eminent domain, and to the rest of us who like reliable electricity and pay the costs of transmission in our electric bills.
The stupid argument goes like this... hypothetical U$ele$$ Transmission project will only take 12 acres out of agricultural production, if built! (Or 9 acres, or even less than 1 acre). This is calculated using the area of all proposed tower bases. This assumes that farmers can farm right up to the base of the tower. I'm talking snugly right up to the base, without any gap between the tower and the crop whatsoever.
Not only is this a lie, it risks safety and reliability of the transmission line.
This happened last week.
Except for this... this one is just plain dangerous, both to the humans forced to live with transmission lines built across their farms using eminent domain, and to the rest of us who like reliable electricity and pay the costs of transmission in our electric bills.
The stupid argument goes like this... hypothetical U$ele$$ Transmission project will only take 12 acres out of agricultural production, if built! (Or 9 acres, or even less than 1 acre). This is calculated using the area of all proposed tower bases. This assumes that farmers can farm right up to the base of the tower. I'm talking snugly right up to the base, without any gap between the tower and the crop whatsoever.
Not only is this a lie, it risks safety and reliability of the transmission line.
This happened last week.
A farmer tried to farm right up to the base of this transmission tower. Slight miscalculation, and down it came, trapping the farmer in his tractor. Luckily no one was hurt. But who owns liability? Who is going to pay to repair the tower and lines? What if the resulting power outage caused damage to some other third party? Is it the transmission company's fault because they made public statements urging the farmer to work right up to the base of the tower? Or is it the farmer's fault because he actually tried to do so?
And this isn't a one-time event. These kinds of collisions between farm equipment and transmission towers happen all the time. In some instances, farmers have been sued for damages. It's probably NOT a good idea to try to keep land in production right up to the base of the transmission tower. A cautious farmer will give that thing a wide berth, causing a much bigger loss of productive farm ground than that bandied about during regulatory hearings.
The claim that the 500-mile Rock Island Clean Line would only take 12 acres out of production was ridiculous, and thankfully that project has been abandoned without being built. But then the Grain Belt Express transmission line owned by Invenergy claimed that only 9 acres would be removed from production. And the Missouri PSC repeated that same stupidity in its order approving the project. Now American Electric Power's Transource IEC project is making similar claims, testifying to PSC Commissioners in Maryland last week that less than an acre will be taken out of production if the project is built. It's not some silly public relations hogwash anymore. Now it's documented, on the record. If these projects are built (and that's a big IF), the transmission owner (and the Missouri PSC) should be held liable for any future transmission tower crashes. Their stupid contentions that farmers can work right up to the base of a tower shift liability in a big way.
I'm still waiting for the transmission tower/farm equipment rodeo to happen, where transmission company executives and PSC Commissioners stand in the middle of a field and pretend to be transmission towers. Farmers will compete with their equipment (some as big as the houses these people towers live in) to see how close they can come to the people towers without the people towers flinching, screaming, wetting their pants, and making a run for it. When transmission developer big mouths and PSC Commissioners are willing to participate in such a rodeo, then they can make all the claims about loss of productive land that they want.
But I'm guessing they won't want to.
This stupid lie needs to be retired. It's only repeated by stupid people.
And this isn't a one-time event. These kinds of collisions between farm equipment and transmission towers happen all the time. In some instances, farmers have been sued for damages. It's probably NOT a good idea to try to keep land in production right up to the base of the transmission tower. A cautious farmer will give that thing a wide berth, causing a much bigger loss of productive farm ground than that bandied about during regulatory hearings.
The claim that the 500-mile Rock Island Clean Line would only take 12 acres out of production was ridiculous, and thankfully that project has been abandoned without being built. But then the Grain Belt Express transmission line owned by Invenergy claimed that only 9 acres would be removed from production. And the Missouri PSC repeated that same stupidity in its order approving the project. Now American Electric Power's Transource IEC project is making similar claims, testifying to PSC Commissioners in Maryland last week that less than an acre will be taken out of production if the project is built. It's not some silly public relations hogwash anymore. Now it's documented, on the record. If these projects are built (and that's a big IF), the transmission owner (and the Missouri PSC) should be held liable for any future transmission tower crashes. Their stupid contentions that farmers can work right up to the base of a tower shift liability in a big way.
I'm still waiting for the transmission tower/farm equipment rodeo to happen, where transmission company executives and PSC Commissioners stand in the middle of a field and pretend to be transmission towers. Farmers will compete with their equipment (some as big as the houses these people towers live in) to see how close they can come to the people towers without the people towers flinching, screaming, wetting their pants, and making a run for it. When transmission developer big mouths and PSC Commissioners are willing to participate in such a rodeo, then they can make all the claims about loss of productive land that they want.
But I'm guessing they won't want to.
This stupid lie needs to be retired. It's only repeated by stupid people.
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