Ugly or Not, Here They Come

Whether or not they cross Civil War battlegrounds, designated scenic rivers or other national treasures, power lines will cut broad new swaths of between states without input from people or local governments along the way. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 gives the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the right to overrule local objections to building power lines in designated high-need areas, despite arguments supporting that need that, according to the Christian Science Monitor, aren't convincing.

At least eight power lines stretching 2,000 miles are planned in the east -- primarily so big power companies can profit by running cheap polluting coal-fired power plants in the Ohio Valley and sell the energy to lucrative markets in New York City and other east coast hot spots. Those power plants are the same set that have been under attack from environmentalists, Northeast state attorneys general and -- occasionally -- the Environmental Protection Agency because their out-dated pollution controls allow massive amounts of pollution that causes acid rain, ozone-related lung and heart damage, toxic mercury-contaminated fish and, of course, global warming.

That isn't the main objection to the lines, of course. People don't want to look at them, and they don't want the power lines fouling the view from places like the Appalachian Trail, or national historic sites.

Those, too, are reasonable concerns that should be taken into account. The larger issue, however, is the source of our electricity going forward. Should it be old polluting power plants, or new clean green sources -- perhaps closer to the homes and businesses that need additional power?

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