Cheap power to Northeast US: a mixed blessing

At least eight transmission lines are planned to connect the region with Midwestern coal plants.

from the May 9, 2007 edition

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Is an interconnected grid weaker?

It's also possible for transmission lines to make the grid less reliable, some experts say.

"The reliability problem is a subtle one because the larger, more interconnected the system is, the more vulnerable you are to cascading blackouts and failures," says Hyde Merrill, a transmission expert who has analyzed grid data for the Piedmont Environmental Council, a group opposing the Dominion power line.

PJM, which has applied to the Energy Department for three new corridors for proposed power lines, rejects that notion.

"We can order transmission owners to build lines, but we cannot order generation to be built," says Ray Dotter, a PJM spokesman. "So if we are seeing overloads developing, the only thing we can order is power lines. Our primary mission is to keep lights on. So you need to do what you need to do if generation is not available locally."

Federal officials say the fact that power companies may make more money off such projects is beside the point.

"I reject the notion that this is somehow inappropriate," adds Kevin Kolevar, director of the Energy Department's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability. "The point here is to provide a balance to the system."

But for Cameron Eaton, a Delaplane, Va., resident who teaches horseback riding, having a Dominion Resources power line run through her 100-acre farm raises legal liability questions that would wreck her business, she says.

"This is a gem of our country," she says. "It's just a crying shame that instead of residents and visitors looking out across a valley not much different from Civil War times, they might be staring at a bunch of power lines instead."

"It may look like I'm just one little spot on many miles of power lines," she adds. "But I'm not going to go down easy."

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