Metro residents seek power line relocation

Until recently.

Now 68 and a breast cancer survivor, Voigt is convinced the 115-kilovolt line is a serious health hazard. She and almost five dozen other area residents

Ellen Tureene of South St. Paul, who lives next to the high-voltage power lines, is part of a group of residents who want NSP to move or bury electricity cables.  They are concerned about possible ill health connected to the electro-magnetic fileds generated by the power lines.  Tureene had a miscarriage a month ago.  NSP says no definitive evidence exists linking such health problems to high-voltage power lines.

asked the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday to force Northern States Power Co. to shut down the line and move it away from area homes.

Voigt and the others concede there's conflicting scientific evidence regarding health risks from electromagnetic fields, or EMFs, from power lines. But they say a disproportionate number of people living near the line have experienced health problems such as miscarriages and cancer.

``We really feel we are being irradiated like rats in a microwave and they (NSP) don't care,'' said Joe Turenne, whose wife Ellen suffered a miscarriage. NSP, however, says no definitive evidence exists linking such health problems to high-voltage power lines. It relies on state and federal agencies to determine if exposures to certain agents are harmful, according to Heidi Benedict, NSP's EMF issue manager.

``EMF has not been determined by these agencies to cause any adverse health effects at any level,'' Benedict said.

NSP has proposed upgrading the 76-year-old line, which connects substations in South St. Paul and Mendota Heights, essentially doubling the number of lines but keeping voltage the same. It prefers to follow the existing corridor, but has offered an alternative that veers along Minnesota 110.

Local residents, however, want NSP to move the line along Interstate 494, or bury it in parts of the existing corridor.

NSP argues that burying the line will boost the project's cost five- or six-fold, to $12 million to $15 million. That extra cost should be borne by the communities or area residents, not NSP ratepayers, the utility said.

After losing a legal dispute with Oakdale, NSP has asked the PUC to clarify existing rules requiring utility customers in communities that want the lines buried to pay the additional cost.

But the power line opponents plan to contest that issue, according to Roger Conant, a Sunfish Lake resident who is spearheading the group's efforts.

The possible connection between EMFs and health dangers has been debated for more than two decades, with some studies pointing to a link and others concluding any tie is insignificant.

The dispute got heated in west-central Minnesota in the mid-1970s when landowners and power companies fought over construction of a 400-kilovolt transmission line from North Dakota to the western edge of the Twin Cities.