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Being able to challenge the construction of transmission lines is a good thing, not a bad thing. The largest unfragmented forest east of the Mississippi was jus
by glenstein 3y ago
Being able to challenge the construction of transmission lines is a good thing, not a bad thing. The largest unfragmented forest east of the Mississippi was just carved in half by a new transmission line in Maine, when there were alternative options that would not have done so. It just so happened that the most environmentally harmful option was nevertheless the most profitable, so they rammed it through.
And while I don't like the outcome, I like that we had the ability to challenge it. An under-appreciated aspect of corridor construction has been utilities being able to use state level regulatory capture to ram through projects that contribute to forest fragmentation.
Being able to challenge these for legitimate purposes has to be balanced against the equally legitimate problem of NIMBY obstructionism of corridor construction. But my feeling is that utilities aren't interested in a balance, they are interested pushing the NIMBY narrative to achieve a complete blank checks to circumvent environmental reviews altogether.
- megaman821 3y agoI don't want to ram through anything and everything, but why not have the BLM conduct studies now? They can pick the most promising, lowest environment footprint corridors. If a pre-approved corridor works, use it, if not go through the normal process.
- abdullahkhalids 3y agoWhat are the environmental impacts of a transmission line through a forest?
- tstrimple 3y agoI didn't know either. Quick google for "forest fragmentation" led me to: https://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/forest-fragmentation https://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/forest-fragme... > Edge effects are even more complicated. They alter growing conditions within the interior of forests through drastic changes in temperature, moisture, light, and wind. Put simply, the environment of the adjacent non-forest land determines the environment of the forest fragment, particularly on its edges. This triggers a cascade of ill effects on the health, growth, and survivability of trees, flowers, ferns, and lichens and an array of secondary effects on the animals that depend on them. Ecologists suggest that true interior forest conditions – you know, where it’s hard to hear cars and lawnmowers and it remains cool, shady, and downright damp even during a three-week drought – only occur at least 200-300 feet inside the non-forest edge. > And so a circular forest island in a sea of non-forest would have to be more than 14 acres in size to include just one acre of such interior forest condition. Put differently, reports indicate that the negative habitat effects of each residential building pocket within a forest radiate outward, affecting up to 30 additional acres with increased disturbance, predation, and competition from edge-dwellers. This may not matter to generalist species like deer, raccoons, and blue jays, which may actually benefit from fragmentation, but it is hell on interior-dependent species like salamanders, goshawks, bats, and flying squirrels. The smaller the remnant the greater the influence of external factors and edge effects. A wise person once likened it to ice cubes: the smaller ones melt faster.
- devilbunny 3y ago> The largest unfragmented forest east of the Mississippi was just carved in half by a new transmission line Is this a big problem? Construction, sure, messy, but once it’s up it’s not really a big deal? Or is there something I am missing? It’s not like they put in a divided highway with animal-killing traffic. The vast majority of the time, it’s just going to be a long, linear clearing. Nobody there, minimal noise.
- glenstein 3y agoYeah, it's a problem. Leading environmental groups in Maine were against it, and another user here put up a helpful quote about forest fragmentation.