Duke sent letters to about 3,700 landowners in Henderson, Polk and Buncombe counties and in Greenville and Spartanburg counties in South Carolina, notifying them that their “property falls within 500 feet of the center of one of the potential routes being considered for the new transmission line.”
“The final route will be determined this fall, following public input and further study to determine feasibility,” the letter continues.
“I’m very concerned, very concerned,” said Madelon Wallace, co-owner and broker at Walker, Wallace and Emerson Realty, which is based in Landrum, S.C. but works in each of the five counties.
“It’s going to have a huge negative effect here,” she said, explaining that the big economic drivers of the Landrum area are tourism, equestrian, agriculture and wineries, and this project “could have a huge effect on the economy in our area, not to mention real estate values.”
Conservationists are also concerned about the potential impacts of the plan, and MountainTrue has been fielding calls from concerned landowners, some in the Hooper’s Creek area of Henderson County, said Mark Stierwalt, southern regional director.
If the line goes through southern Henderson County, Stierwalt said, it will be hard to miss the many conserved and protected areas such as the Green River Game Lands, Greenville watershed, DuPont State Recreational Forest and more, as well as several summer camps.
He said he views the 45-mile project as “basically going to be a 500-foot path of clear-cutting that will then be maintained with herbicides.”
In Polk County, a handful of landowners have already expressed their concerns to Pacolet Area Conservancy, said Pam Torlina, director of stewardship and land protection.
In the past, she said, Duke has been forthcoming and open about a project, but she hasn’t heard from the company yet on this proposal.
Duke spokesperson Meghan Musgrave said the company has also been fielding and responding to calls from landowners who received letters, wanting to know more about the project.
Musgrave said the 230-kilovolt transmission lines will connect Duke Energy Carolinas system with the Duke Energy Progress system, making them more efficient and saving on generation fuel expenses. The added infrastructure will also provide an opportunity for future economic development.
The lines will be supported by steel lattice-framed steel towers with an average height of 140 feet, though their height will vary throughout the foothills and mountains. They’ll also be darkened to make them less visible, Musgrave said.
Wallace expressed concerns that public meetings would be less interactive and more informational, but Musgrave said the open-house format of the meeting will allow community members to visit different stations, talk to and ask questions of experts and get any additional information they need.
Stierwalt said MountainTrue plans to put together a strong showing for the scheduled public meetings, “but until they actually release the plans, it’s hard to know what we’re dealing with,” he said.
The first meeting, where the potential routes will be unveiled, will be held from 4-7 p.m. Tuesday at the WNC Ag Center.
Julie Mayfield, co-director at MountainTrue, said the conservation group is “not opposed to the lines as a matter of fact, but probably will be looking at where the lines will go and making sure that they’re not impacting special natural areas” and that they’re minimizing the impact on landowners.
Musgrave said Duke gathers information from many sources and analyzes the physical, cultural and ecological impacts for proposed routes in the study area, which encompasses nearly all of Henderson County, more than half of Polk County, and sections of Greenville and Spartanburg counties.
She said sensitive ecological areas are included and considered in that process, and that the company wants to look for corridors and routes that minimize impacts on homes, the community and the environment.
The new transmission line is part of a larger project, the $1.1 billion Western Carolinas Modernization Project, which will eventually replace Duke’s coal-burning Asheville plant with a natural gas-burning plant.
Duke has slated $320 million to construct the transmission line and the substation in Campobello, S.C., it will connect to.
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