Weigh in on SunZia transmission line

Still don't see why that huge, ugly and environmentally invasive power line can't be buried underground. I know, I know... burying lines causes a loss of power over long distances, or some such thing. C'mon, with our advanced technologies, we can't come up with a better way??

Not in MY backyard you don't! The desires of the few outweigh the needs of the many at all times in America.

Hector_Sanchez wrote:

Not in MY backyard you don't! The desires of the few outweigh the needs of the many at all times in America.

Wouldn't the interest of the "few" be your single backyard. The desire of the nation "the many" is to develop renewable energy, which will require the construction of transmission lines.

News was made the other day about a Clovis area connection between the three main power groups. They are using a unique cabling system. Why not consider this cable underground?

Any way you want to cut it, renewable energy isn't worth human health risks. So when considering this issue one must not forget human health risks and power transmission lines. For more on that go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez and search for "power transmission lines,health" (without the quotes) and find forty one papers suggesting various health problems with transmission lines and human health ranging from childhood leukemia, depression and more. Tackle and understand these unresolved health problems first. Build power transmission lines only if they are truly safe.

Underground would be marvelous, but line loss on such large capacity (500kV) carriers makes that just plain not feasible. Open air remains the best coolant and separator for high power lines.
Any feasible route would go through very few "back yards", rather it would cross open expanses of public land, quite likely in parallel with existing large transmission lines. No route choice has been made.
Direct human exposure would be minimal, as most folks would have to drive quite a ways to get close to any of the proposed line. EMR effects remain suspected although not clearly demonstrated, but may be a concern for anyone close to such a line. If you don't want a dose of EMR, don't go stand under a powerline...