Columnist Ken McCall: Transmission lines a powerful issue for residents

Ken McCall

Friday, June 6, 1997 | 5:47 a.m.

ALONG MICHAEL WAY the residents haven't exactly grown fond of those 65-foot power poles sprouting in their front yards.

But at least they like them better than what Nevada Power Co. has planned.

To meet the Las Vegas Valley's growing demand for electricity and to improve the reliability of its grid, Nevada Power needs to run a high-powered transmission line from the Michael Way Substation just north of Washington Avenue to the Washburn Substation about three miles north.

The utility plans to replace the familiar wooden poles along Michael and Smoke Ranch Road and replace them with 80- to 100-foot steel poles.

But residents have organized to oppose the new line. Running the transmission lines through their neighborhood, they say, will "trash their community," send property values into a tailspin and contribute to urban decay.

They also fear the possible -- though unproven -- health effects of the electromagnetic fields, especially on children. The lines, they point out, will carry four times the voltage currently running above their homes.

The company counters that the taller poles will help cut down on the electromagnetic field despite the extra voltage.

Members of the Northwest Power Line Coalition thought they had the issue beaten last September. After a chilly reception from the Clark County Commission, the utility withdrew the proposal and agreed to meet with the coalition.

Next thing they knew, says coalition spokesman Alan Peterson, the proposal was scheduled for a May Planning Commission meeting.

"Nothing had changed," says Peterson. "It was the very same thing."

So Peterson led a delegation of nine to the meeting and got to testify -- at 2 in the morning. The commission appeared sympathetic, but approved the utility's proposal.

The issue was scheduled for a hearing at Wednesday's County Commission meeting, but was again postponed after Nevada Power finally met last week with the coalition.

"We can't believe what's going on," says Peterson, who lives on Smoke Ranch. "We're just shaking our heads that they're coming back and trying this a second time.

"It's like, to hell with the residents. This is what the rest of the community needs."

But Nevada Power says it's just doing what residents said they wanted.

"We held two community workshops and we asked the public to design the line," says Bill Roullier, Nevada Power's director of land services, "to tell us where it should run.

"The overwhelming response was on that corridor."

The company invited 6,000 people, and though Roullier admits the workshops were "sparsely attended," he says more than 100 people filled out surveys.

Peterson, however, dismisses that claim as "just total baloney." He was told by a utility employee that only 18 people participated.

Besides that, the coalition has questionnaires from 400 neighborhood residents and not one went to or knew about the workshops.

"What we had, I figure, was about nine people choosing to go through this area," he says.

The Michael Way-Smoke Ranch corridor has certain advantages, Roullier says. The biggest is that a line is already there.

Also, the utility has permission from the city of Las Vegas for the line, which runs through city and county jurisdictions. If a new line is built, he says, the old one won't go away.

"In a case like this," he says, "instead of adding a new corridor a short distance away, we feel it's in the best interests of the community to use the existing corridor."

The coalition has proposed an alternate route that would run east on Vegas Drive and north on Decatur Boulevard.

Roullier says the Decatur area, which is mostly commercial, looks like a good alternative. Vegas, however, "isn't as attractive" because it has residential development and currently doesn't have a power distribution line.

That could make it more difficult for the company to get approval.

Or maybe not, now that the coalition is flexing its muscle. The group held a meeting this week with Commissioner Lance Malone that was attended by 99 people.

As a result, Malone says he's in favor of the Vegas-Decatur route. While Vegas has apartments on the south side, he says, the homes on the north side have been converted to commercial uses.

The commissioner says he's gotten a commitment from Nevada Power to reroute the line if the city will agree. He also got the utility to postpone the matter until July 2 so newly elected Councilman Larry Brown can be brought up to speed on the issue.

"It sounds like we're on the right track," Malone says.

Nevada Power's Roullier is more cautious about the outcome, saying only that the utility is "working for a solution that works for everybody."

What works for the Michael Way residents is what they've got.

"I bought the house and I knew this was here and that's fine," says Michael Way resident Hal Morris as he peers up at the towering wooden pole in the corner of his front yard. "But I don't think they have a right to put the other ones in."