Story Published:
Feb 4, 2011 at 11:10 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Feb 4, 2011 at 11:10 PM CDT
Remember several years ago when TVA warned that a new electrical line would be needed to serve the growing community of Algood. They warned that Algood could experience brownouts or even blackouts if more electricity were not delivered.
The NIMBYs went ballistic. TVA had informational meetings and advanced several routes that a new transmission line might take. The current line that ties into TVA's high tension line off Poplar
Grove Road and goes over Buck Mountain was fiercely opposed by environmentalists along the proposed route. These people actually expected Algood to go dark as they championed their cause of no power line across my property!
No, sir. Put it someplace else--anywhere else.
The case dragged on for several years at a tremendous cost to both sides and finally resulted, via Court order, in TVA's building the current line. Algood now has an abundance of electricity, at least for the foreseeable future.
Now, here we go again. TVA is projecting that Putnam County will require more juice in the coming years until 2019. The project is being based on the fact that Putnam and Cumberland Counties have been growing at about a 2% rate of growth since 2000. That's a lot of people for the past ten years! Don't forget that each year's calculations are based on the rate of growth for each previous year. It's like calculating compound interest.
Look for these NIMBYs to come out of the woodwork by the date of the next meeting sometime this summer.
A total of 26 TVA substations will be overloaded by 2019, and 16 of the smaller feeder lines will be overloaded by 2019. This expansion will be met by howls of protest by the environmentalists. There will be lawsuits by property owners upon which substations will be projected to be constructed or connecting lines will be projected to be run.
Meanwhile populations in the area will continue to grow. The Upper Cumberland area, especially Cumberland County, is a mecca for retirees. It's a fact of life, hated by some, that electricity demand will increase with growth. But, selfish NIMBYs never seem to learn or care.
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