Time to pull the plug on VELCO?

With good reason. The southern portion of the project is under construction from West Rutland north to New Haven. Along the way, VELCO is planting structures up to 100 feet tall across the pastoral landscape through Florence, Pittsford, Brandon, Leicester, Salisbury, and Middlebury.

Meanwhile, the cost of energy is soaring as the price of oil has risen. And global warming, driven in large part by the greenhouse gases that result from burning fossil fuels, is not speculation but reality. Glaciers are retreating; polar icecaps are melting; tropical storms are increasing in number and intensity.

How does this relate to the VELCO project? Although sold as a "reliability" project, VELCO's line is all about increased capacity. The 345-kilovolt line under construction will increase the load capacity by about seven times over the present VELCO line. How will all this power be generated? It's a sure bet VELCO doesn't have cow manure or wind turbines in mind. Especially after the Hydro-Quebec contract expires, more power will have to come from generators fueled by oil, coal, or nuclear energy. The price of oil has more than doubled since the VELCO project was initiated; dozens of coal miners have been killed in tragic accidents; and the problem of long-term disposal of nuclear wastes is no closer to being solved than it was 20 years ago.

By the time the power line is complete, how much will the power companies be charging for the electricity it carries? Conservation is going to look like a better and better deal as energy prices skyrocket. Looking farther ahead, clean, renewable technologies such as fuel cells and photovoltaics are coming closer to maturity, with the potential to provide more local sources of electric power, not relying on long-distance, high capacity transmission lines.

It's time to go back to the drawing boards and rethink this entire project. VELCO has already committed multiple abuses of their permit for the southern portion of the line: wetlands disrupted, archaeological sites violated, misplaced poles, huge piles of construction debris. The cost has soared to over double what VELCO originally estimated. The Public Service Board could say "enough is enough," suspend VELCO's permit -- and review the entire project. What is the need? Is this still the best way to meet it? Are there more environmentally attractive and less expensive alternatives?

In 1968 Vermont became the first state in the nation to enact a law prohibiting billboards on our highways. That act, revolutionary in its time, has made a huge difference in our state and is one of the factors that make Vermont one of the best places to live anywhere.

We could become the first state to begin eliminating large overhead electric power lines by ceasing construction of new lines like VELCO's NRP. They are as much a blight on the landscape as billboards -- arguably more so because of the height of the poles and width of the right-of-way cleared in their construction. Where high- tension transmission lines are necessary, these should be placed underground, as they are in some European countries. That way the cost, while higher, would be shared by all who benefit rather than borne disproportionately by towns through which they pass.

Some day large overhead power lines will become dinosaurs. Vermonters are forward-thinking, creative people. We should be looking ahead today. Who wants to be the last ones stringing these lines across the landscape, with all the environmental and dollar costs that they entail?

Frank Winkler is a physicist who lives in Middlebury.