First KY Stimulus Project: Bury the Power Lines
There are 500,000 people - 1/8 the entire population - without electricity in Kentucky this morning. Temperature is 25 degrees, dropping into the teens by Friday night.
They are without power - the light switch kind and the political kind - for one reason, and it's NOT the weather.
They are without power because 90 percent of the electric lines in this state are swinging naked 20 feet in the air, taunting giant tree branches that take every opportunity to rip those smart-ass suckers right out of the grid.
I've lived in this state more than 40 years, and every year it's the same refrain: Bury the power lines! It's too expensive! All you silly people who expect the lights to go on in return for the outrageous utility bills you pay: FUCK YOU!
Ice storm, heavy snow, tornado, hurricane remnants, suicide squirrels - overhead power lines are begging for catastrophe, and catastrophe is what we've got.
No, I don't think the taxpayers should cover the cost of something Kentucky Utilities, Louisville Gas and Electric, and all the rural cooperatives should have paid to do decades ago.
I think Kentucky should get stimulus money to bury all the lines, do it ourselves, then force the companies to reimburse us.
Every dime. Plus 10 percent interest per year for the 60 years they've been putting off burying the lines themselves.
Cross-posted at BlueGrassRoots.
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1 comment:
This is like the Russians trying to freeze the Ukes to death every winter by withholding natural gas from them. Every fucking year, the "let's bury the lines" argument comes up, and nothing ever happens as a result.
There are technical considerations, like the whole concept of "grounding", but with current technology, burying the lines would be costly but not THAT costly. But anything that cuts into the profits of a monopoly is TOO costly.
Only way this will ever happen is if the Legislature passes a law making failure to bury the lines punishable by death of the CEO of the utility. And we can predict how likely that is to happen.
Or wait, there's one other way - the customers storm the offices of the utility, and hold them till it happens.
And we know how likely THAT is, too.
In short, this extremely logical and safety-oriented move, which as you mention, YD, should have been done when the lines were originally run years ago, will NEVER be done till we have 50 governors who are as smart and as liberal as Pres. Obama.
And we know how likely THAT is, too.
Nah, in truth, we're screwed on this issue, as we are on so many such public works projects.
As long as it's cheaper to repair downed lines about 50 times than it is to bury them, they will remain unburied.
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