The Daily News Journal
Originally published May 14, 2006
TVA: Power lines could overload by 2011
BY MARY REEVES
Gannett/Tennessee
Rapid growth in Rutherford County is not only placing a strain on the highway and schools – it’s draining the power lines as well.
By 2011, TVA estimates many of the transmission lines serving Rutherford and Williamson counties will be overloaded. In order to have additional power sources ready for the influx of customers by that time, TVA has plans to start building a new substation now – in Rutherford County.
Rutherford and neighboring Williamson are two of the state’s fastest-growing counties. Since 1990, their combined population has grown by approximately 46 percent, U.S. Census figures show. With residential construction booming, the demand for power has increased an average of 3.5 percent annually, TVA says.
Since last summer, three alternatives have been considered, including upgrading the Pinhook substation, located between La Vergne and Nashville; building a new substation in the Brentwood area; or building a station in Rutherford County, in the Eagleville area to better access existing rights of way for both Rutherford and Williamson County transmission lines.
Now the opinions have been narrowed to Rutherford.
“It was a combinations of reasons, ” said Charles Nicholson, TVA environmentalist, referring to the decision to drop the Pinhook and Brentwood alternatives. “We would have to take many transmission lines out of service and rebuild them. Because of the need to keep electrical service going to the areas, there were a limited number of lines we could take out of service at one time. There were also foundation issues at Pinhook and residential issues at Brentwood.”
Dense population surrounded the site in Brentwood, he said, and the rock outcroppings at both sites would call for a lot of blasting. Also, because there would not be the issue of interrupting service, the work would be done faster in Rutherford County, he said, and would have a better chance of meeting the 2010 deadline.
“Cost was a factor … in separating the Rutherford from the Brentwood and the Pinhook sites,” said Nicholson. Although the Rutherford County site is estimated to cost more in capital outlay – 8 percent more than the Brentwood site and 3 percent more than the Pinhook site, the overall project cost would be $3 million less than Brentwood and $20 million less than Pinhook.
Julie Vaughn, whose family farm is one of the sites being considered, is torn. While she recognizes the need for more power, she also agonizes over the possibility of losing more than 60 acres of prime farmland – and the family livelihood.
“We do understand that there is a need for the increased power because we have seen the growth in both Rutherford and Williamson County,” she said. “Our suggestion is to use the existing right of way or use an abandoned industrial site, like the battery plant out by Kirkland. We don’t know if they’ve investigated using commercial property. We would just as soon they take another look and re-evaluate.”
Two of the things she would like to see TVA engineers re-evaluate are the other sites.
“(Pinhook) is already there, and the power lines are already run – you wouldn’t be interrupting about 300 people’s property rights,” Vaughn said.
When scouting for a new station site, Nicholson said a variety of conditions are studied.
“There’s a combination of a lot of different properties,” he said. “The foundation conditions, bedrock, soil conditions, how close it is to road systems, other transmission lines, the amount of development in the area, other houses in the area, as well as a whole range of other environmental factors, wetlands and rare species.”
Nicholson said a wetlands survey had not been done of the areas being considered yet.
On the TVA Web site, visitors can find the Rutherford-Williamson-Davidson Power Supply Improvement Project Environmental Impact Statement Scoping Document, which details each site and the reasons given for choosing, or not choosing, each of them.
It also includes environmental issues to be addressed in the study: Water quality and quantity for both surface water and groundwater; vegetation; wildlife, including habitat fragmentation; aquatic ecology; endangered and threatened species and their critical habitats; wetlands; managed areas and ecologically significant sites; recreation; visual resources; flood plains; land use – including prime farmland; archaeological and historic resources; and socioeconomics, including property values and environmental justice.
Undeveloped land is another factor TVA looks for.
“In this context, yes, we would consider farmland as ‘undeveloped,’” said Nicholson. “‘Developed’ would be houses and commercial developments.”
The proposed 500-kilovolt substation will require about 60 acres that TVA would purchase from the landowner, as well as rights of way for the transmission towers and lines. Although TVA already has several rights of way in the area, it would need more.
“We are going to have to purchase some rights of way. We buy an easement that gives us the right to build and maintain the transmission line, it also restricts the property. We would purchase land for station,” Nicholson said, adding that it would be at fair market value. Using eminent domain would, he said, “only be as a last resort. We try to work with the landowners as much as possible.”
“Where they are wanting to take it, they would need to purchase the entire farm, not just the 60 acres,” said Vaughn. “They are going to leave us with a border that is basically useless.”
The Patterson site being considered is about 310 acres along Patterson Road, about two miles east of Highway 41A/31A, and would be able to access the currently vacant Hartsville-Maury transmission line right of way, as well as the Murfreesboro-Triune-East Franklin transmission line.
The second potential site in Rutherford County is in a 750-acre area on Rocky Glade Road, about two miles northeast of Eagleville, and is also close to existing transmission lines or rights of way. The Maury right of way was purchased in the 1970s to construct the Hartsville-Maury transmission line that was never completed. Although most of it was never cleared, TVA has maintained ownership.
Additional lines would be necessary, but Nicholson said TVA tries to place them carefully.
“We would not build it over a school building, and we would try to keep it as far from school property as possible,” he said.
The lines from the substation would be transmission lines, high voltage power lines moving the electricity elsewhere, as compared to the distribution power lines that bring electricity to the home. Those owners with TVA right of way easements on their property – which should be detailed in the deed – have to follow a set of guidelines about the easement, including no buildings or tall trees near the towers or lines.
There is opposition to the proposed substation, especially among the 300 or so Eagleville residents whose property – and property values – will be affected. There was similar opposition to the Brentwood site, but Nicholson said the public outcry was not the reason the site was eliminated as a prospect.
“Public opinion is something we consider, but there were other factors involved,” he said. “We hope the local residents will accept it wherever we put it, but we know that’s not always the case.”
