SECTION: State and Regional

LENGTH: 257 words

HEADLINE: Fear of electromagnetic fields stalls substation

DATELINE: ALBUQUERQUE

BODY:
Concern over electromagnetic fields has held up an electrical substation that Public Service Company of New Mexico wants to serve Albuquerque's booming west side.

PNM plans a $2.2 million project to redevelop a substation built in the 1960s. PNM would put in a substation better able to handle high voltages and meet the demand from the growing area.

But the project has been delayed over concerns over the effect of electromagnetic fields, or EMF.

The Environmental Planning Commission approved the project subject to PNM getting the city Environmental Health Department to sign off after it reviews any potential electromagnetic field hazard.

"This is a first," Laurie Moye, the PNM official who presented the proposal to the commission.

Planning commission members said they wanted the city to take a look at possible health risks of locating high-voltage power lines near residential areas.

"There's really no regulatory requirements for EMF anywhere," said Angel Martinez, Air Quality Division director for the city.

That reflects scientific ambiguity.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences spent six years studying the subject. Its 1999 report said that while electromagnetic field exposure "cannot be recognized as entirely safe," the institute "believes that the probability that EMF exposure is truly a health hazard is currently small."

The institute also concluded evidence showing a risk of cancer and other human disease from electromagnetic fields around power lines was weak.

LOAD-DATE: May 14, 2002