4 ms·

It pretty much is like building a highway. Transmission tower lines are very big and wide. We (in Maine) also suffered the results of a natural gas pipeline ins

It pretty much is like building a highway. Transmission tower lines are very big and wide. We (in Maine) also suffered the results of a natural gas pipeline installation, with people’s yards taken by eminent domain laws to make way for the construction.. I’m not surprised people voted against it this time around.

fhood 5y ago
By size maybe. Way less disruptive than a highway though.
oblio 5y ago
I'm confused, how could they be like a highway? Don't your power lines look like this? https://energytransition.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Wind_Turbines_and_Power_Lines_East_Sussex_England_-_April_2009.jpg https://energytransition.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Wind... 1 pole of maybe... I don't know, 30m by 10m, every several hundred meters? That's a tiny footprint. Isn't the rest just electrical cables hanging 20m in the air?
- ohyeshedid 5y ago
  It's always hard to judge scale perfectly in pictures, but the base on those towers would be at least 2 traffic lanes, if not 4 wide. They didn't say what size highway. EDIT: According to another comment[1], the cut is 75ft wide. That's enough for 6 lanes. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29101500 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29101500
- minitoar 5y ago
  I don’t know if they were going to do it in this case but frequently they clear-cut the entire path the width of the towers between the towers.
- EE84M3i 5y ago
  Sometimes they'll make a clearing for construction and/or maintenance that is basically a road.
- turtlebits 5y ago
  It's not involved as building a highway, but from what I've seen, they need to clear a huge swath of land along the path of the wires. https://videohive.img.customer.envatousercontent.com/files/9d86632e-51a3-4dc6-9dc1-4f2d0bfacdba/inline_image_preview.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&crop=top&max-h=8000&max-w=590&s=a63de083e37e71bf7d174451aea0f6ec https://videohive.img.customer.envatousercontent.com/files/9...
- Gracana 5y ago
  The land beneath and to the sides of the lines needs to be cleared to install and maintain the line. It doesn’t look bad in that photo because it’s not cutting through the forest. [edit] forgot a word
- retbull 5y ago
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Power_lines_through_the_forest_Thrunton_Woods_-_geograph.org.uk_-_865935.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Power_lines_through_... They cut down all the trees nearby so its basically a clear cut strip thats as wide as the poles are tall.
- Dangeranger 5y ago
  Correct, and many towers are airlifted in by helicopter to minimize transportation time. But the problem for many locals is the maintenance of the right of way, and the false belief in negative effects due to proximity to electro-magnetic radiation. If you own the land adjacent to the right of way, you are generally paid by the transmission utility, but there are encumbrances placed on what you can do with your land within a certain proximity of the transmission corridor.
- toss1 5y ago
  It is a huge wide swath, 20m-50m wide, with a road for maintenance access. While not necessarily a huge footprint, it has an outsized environmental impact - this is because it forces and maintains a field ecosystem through the middle of the forest, effectively breaking the forest in two. While it isn't quite as bad as a highway, it greatly disrupts the ecosystem on both sides for 100s of meters into the forest, by bringing in more forest edge predators, vermin, diseases, etc. Ecologically, the net effect may not be quite as bad as a highway, but it is still basically a kilometer-wide disruption band, breaking a single broad deep forest into two far smaller forests. Contiguous zones, not mere square acreage are turning out to be critical for the biosphere, and this is just another big disruptor.
  - rurp 5y ago
    Thank you for explaining this better than I could have. Just looking at the total land being clear cut really understates the ecological impact.
- Ekaros 5y ago
  Basically they cut down all threes that have any potential to touch the line when falling down. And this has to be maintained, so it's better to go bit more. Considering height of the line it's not exactly small space required.

fhood 5y ago

By size maybe. Way less disruptive than a highway though.

oblio 5y ago

I'm confused, how could they be like a highway? Don't your power lines look like this? https://energytransition.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Wind_Turbines_and_Power_Lines_East_Sussex_England_-_April_2009.jpg https://energytransition.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Wind... 1 pole of maybe... I don't know, 30m by 10m, every several hundred meters? That's a tiny footprint. Isn't the rest just electrical cables hanging 20m in the air?

ohyeshedid 5y ago
It's always hard to judge scale perfectly in pictures, but the base on those towers would be at least 2 traffic lanes, if not 4 wide. They didn't say what size highway. EDIT: According to another comment[1], the cut is 75ft wide. That's enough for 6 lanes. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29101500 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29101500
minitoar 5y ago
I don’t know if they were going to do it in this case but frequently they clear-cut the entire path the width of the towers between the towers.
EE84M3i 5y ago
Sometimes they'll make a clearing for construction and/or maintenance that is basically a road.
turtlebits 5y ago
It's not involved as building a highway, but from what I've seen, they need to clear a huge swath of land along the path of the wires. https://videohive.img.customer.envatousercontent.com/files/9d86632e-51a3-4dc6-9dc1-4f2d0bfacdba/inline_image_preview.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&crop=top&max-h=8000&max-w=590&s=a63de083e37e71bf7d174451aea0f6ec https://videohive.img.customer.envatousercontent.com/files/9...
Gracana 5y ago
The land beneath and to the sides of the lines needs to be cleared to install and maintain the line. It doesn’t look bad in that photo because it’s not cutting through the forest. [edit] forgot a word
retbull 5y ago
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Power_lines_through_the_forest_Thrunton_Woods_-_geograph.org.uk_-_865935.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Power_lines_through_... They cut down all the trees nearby so its basically a clear cut strip thats as wide as the poles are tall.
Dangeranger 5y ago
Correct, and many towers are airlifted in by helicopter to minimize transportation time. But the problem for many locals is the maintenance of the right of way, and the false belief in negative effects due to proximity to electro-magnetic radiation. If you own the land adjacent to the right of way, you are generally paid by the transmission utility, but there are encumbrances placed on what you can do with your land within a certain proximity of the transmission corridor.
toss1 5y ago
It is a huge wide swath, 20m-50m wide, with a road for maintenance access. While not necessarily a huge footprint, it has an outsized environmental impact - this is because it forces and maintains a field ecosystem through the middle of the forest, effectively breaking the forest in two. While it isn't quite as bad as a highway, it greatly disrupts the ecosystem on both sides for 100s of meters into the forest, by bringing in more forest edge predators, vermin, diseases, etc. Ecologically, the net effect may not be quite as bad as a highway, but it is still basically a kilometer-wide disruption band, breaking a single broad deep forest into two far smaller forests. Contiguous zones, not mere square acreage are turning out to be critical for the biosphere, and this is just another big disruptor.
- rurp 5y ago
  Thank you for explaining this better than I could have. Just looking at the total land being clear cut really understates the ecological impact.
Ekaros 5y ago
Basically they cut down all threes that have any potential to touch the line when falling down. And this has to be maintained, so it's better to go bit more. Considering height of the line it's not exactly small space required.