FREDERICKSBURG – A new power play over power lines is brewing in the Texas Hill Country, as the Lower Colorado River Authority on Wednesday filed a request for permits to run yet another high-voltage transmission line from West Texas to Central Texas.
Uncertainty over the location of several electricity transmission lines has many feeling left in the dark.
Real estate broker Greg Oehler says interest has slowed among potential buyers looking to purchase large tracts of land around Fredericksburg.
"They might spend their life savings or all of their equity from another home to buy property here, only to have a power line go up and that’s a frightening aspect of their purchase decision,” Oehler said.
In 2005, the Texas Legislature required utilities, including the LCRA to build more lines to bring electric power generated by the winds of West Texas to populated areas in Central Texas. The line proposed near Fredericksburg is one of several that will be built under the plan.
The final alignment will likely be somewhere in a broad swath of land extending from Sonora and Menard to Kerrville and Fredericksburg. The LCRA came up with 75 routes, comprising dozens of segments, for just this one line. When you add it all up, LCRA officials say there are hundreds of possibilities for where those new lines could run. All of them though, cut across the Hill Country.
"We’ve studied an area about the size of Connecticut, which is an enormous area. We didn’t just sit there and draw lines on a map,” said LCRA spokesman Robert Cullick who explained the utility looked at property records, at aerial maps, and has already held 18 public hearings.
Still, folks in Fredericksburg worry the uncertainty over this line and others will unplug the scenic beauty that draws people to the Hill Country.
The Public Utility Commission has the final say on the plan. The commission has not yet set the dates for public input, however, the commission is currently accepting input by mail at the following address: Public Utility Commission of Texas, Central Records, Attn: Filing Clerk, 1701 North Congress Avenue, Post Office Box 13326, Austin, TX 78711-3326.
