Wind energy plan tests power of farmers
“The first high voltage electric transmission line to dissect their crop and pasture land arrived in 1967, when Sunflower Electric paid Edwards County farmer Anthony J. Brake $1,413 for the privilege.
The second line – taller and with higher voltage – went up just two years ago, running parallel a few hundred feet from the first.
This time ITC Great Plains used eminent domain when many in the area, including Brake’s daughter and grandson, couldn’t reach agreement with the company on a right-of-way settlement for the 345-kilovolt line, erected to move wind-generated electricity from near Spearville onto the state’s electric grid.
Now, Theresa Brake and her nephew, Kevin Brake, fear a third line – the largest yet – will take more land from their limited farm, and they plan to resist it.
Nearly a dozen other farmers or landowners from the area joined the Brakes on Thursday in a church meeting room to express their concern and frustration with the latest project – Clean Line Energy Partners’ “Grain Belt Express.””
Associated Press. SEK Voice.com 16 April 2013.