Power line plan doesn't sit well in Pomona

SELAH -- A proposed 230,000-volt power line hits close to home -- literally -- for Rick Andreas.

The Pomona Heights resident got his first close-up look at a route proposed by Pacific Power for a third major transmission line serving the Yakima Valley during a public meeting at the Selah Civic Center on Tuesday.

He didn't like what he saw.

The 56-year-old Andreas saw a route that will cut across the edge of his yard. He worries about the effect the line would have on his pacemaker. Utilities officials said studies have shown lines the size Pacific is proposing do not affect pacemakers. The line carries less than half the power of the major regional transmission lines operated by the Bonneville Power Administration.

But there is no debate about its impact on his property values.

It definitely will affect his property values.

"It will tear the hell out of property values. We already have two there. Now they want a third. I don't think so," he said.

The second line near his home is a smaller distribution line.

Pacific Power wants to build the new line along the same general route as an existing 230,000-volt line to meet the growing power demands in the Yakima Valley. It would be the first new transmission line in 35 years, Regional Manager Clark Satre told a crowd of more than 40 people.

"It's time to look at the system and beef it up to meet the needs," he said, "so the community can grow and have a healthy economy. You can't do it without electricity."

But just where the line is routed to get from Vantage, east of the Columbia River, to the Pomona substation is yet to be determined.

Because of the need for a full environmental review and permits from various state and federal agencies, the new line likely won't be complete until 2012.

As currently proposed, the line will cross about 5 miles of Bureau of Land Management land, 20 miles of the Yakima Training Center and 15 miles of private land.

Satre and other utilities officials at the meeting emphasized Pacific Power is in the early stages of the project. The route shown to area residents is the utility's preferred route.

Doug Simpson, who has lived in the Pomona area 13 years, said the route parallels his driveway. He, too, has concerns about property values and health.

Simpson's father, who lives with him, has a pacemaker and a defibrillator. But a neighborhood-wide concern is property value.

"A lot of newer homes have been built in the last 10 to 15 years. They wouldn't have developed there if the intent was a major power line," said Simpson, also 56.

Pacific Power officials said the utility would have to provide compensation for property owners. About 100 would be affected if the line is built.

The Portland-based investor-owned utility currently has two transmission lines that serve the Yakima Valley. Besides the Pomona line, the other ends at Union Gap.

Satre said prior to Tuesday's meeting that the new line is needed because should one of the two current lines fail, Pacific Power could not meet customer demands at certain times of the year.

The proposed line would be about 1,500 feet away from the existing line. The distance provides security that if one line is damaged, the other line could avoid damage.

But the distance between the approximately 70 foot-high double poles narrows in the more populated area around Pomona.

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