It started innocently enough. Last June, homeowners in northwest Palatine noticed a crew cutting trees along a right of way near Carpenter Road and Northwest Highway.
A few neighbors approached the workmen, and they were startled to hear that Commonwealth Edison was planning to erect a 158,000-kilovolt line and three 12,800-volt lines through their residential neighborhood.
“They didn’t give much of a reason,” says resident Bob Lott. “Just something about `You need more power . . . the area’s growing.’ “
So why should that upset anyone? Better more power than summer blackouts on a 100-degree day, right?
Not anymore. Besides the unsightliness of high-voltage power lines on tree-lined community streets, fear is growing among the general public about the potential health hazards those lines may pose.
University and health institute reports have been circulating for years purporting to link cancer to the electromagnetic field radiation dispersed by power lines and other forms of electricity. None has convinced the U.S. government that there is a proven danger.
But a study released in Sweden in September 1992 showing increased cases of leukemia among a sampling of 500,000 people living near power lines has become the most powerful evidence to date.
Citizens groups are growing in their opposition to what they perceive as utility companies’ indiscriminate construction of lines, particularly near residential areas and public places such as schools.
While Commonwealth Edison officials have grumbled about the NIMBY (not in my back yard) syndrome, that yard is an emerging patchwork in the Chicago suburban area. From Better Electrical Safety Today in the southwest and western suburbs to No Power Towers in Kane County and Citizens Against Unsafe Electricity (CAUSE) in Lake County, people are organizing against expansion of the high-line system by the area’s sole electricity provider, Commonwealth Edison.
Lott helped organize Residents for Responsible Power in the fall, and the Palatine group approached the village as well as Com Ed to find out why they weren’t told about the power line additions.
The answer: It seems the workmen doing the tree-clearing spoke out of turn. “They were doing a normal maintenance to clear the trees and bushes,” says Com Ed’s Wayne Laursen, director of public affairs for the Northwest Region. “For that particular area, we’re thinking about 1995 or 1996 to do some low voltage stuff, 12kv, but not putting major transmission lines. People get frustrated because we can’t tell them exactly what’s going to happen in the next five years.
“We’ve pretty much figured the substation will be maxed out by the end of the decade and entail further development. Then we’re looking at an additional substation.”
For the citizens’ group, that meant a little time was bought. They took advantage of the news to consult the village of Palatine about putting some guidelines in place addressing the future placement and installation of power lines.
Palatine director of health David Yahn has prepared a memo for the Village Board recommending the village approve plans to require future power line installations to be buried and to mediate any hot spots that arise.
“This was a thrilling education,” Yahn said of the three months of research. “Our concerns are basically the same as the residents, but we’re not sure how far we can go to the same extent the residents can as far as stating, yes, they are a definite hazard.”
Anyone concerned enough to do some reading can make up their own mind. The first widely read publication was Paul Brodeur’s 1989 series of articles in The New Yorker magazine, later expanded into a book titled “Currents of Death.”
Brodeur marshaled research suggesting links between cancer and the electric and magnetic fields emanating from common electrical current-not just high power lines but everyday household appliances.
The U.S. research began with a 1977 Denver study that suggested a connection between cases of childhood leukemia and EMFs.
Many others followed. An EPA draft report reaffirming the cancer-EMF relationship was leaked to the media in 1989, then strongly recanted by the agency.
Utility companies reassured their customers. Careful use of household appliances-the electric can opener emitted the highest readings (66 milligauss) in studies-became the targets of the official technospeak buzzphrase “prudent avoidance”: Don’t sit too close to the TV; move the bedside clock away from your head.
But what about power lines? Electromagnetic fields decrease dramatically with distance. Is there a health threat if a home, public school or other public place where people spend long periods of time stands close to power lines?
Commonwealth Edison follows the same guidelines set by the U.S. government’s Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA’s position is that more study is needed but that proof does not yet exist to warrant restriction of power lines within any particular distance from residential or public property.
Com Ed points out that no definitive cause and effect relationship between the EMFs and cancer in the U.S. has been established.
But the Swedish study may be the impetus to get the U.S. government to form a more definitive response.
The research focused on people living within 1,000 feet of the country’s major power lines and found children had a four times greater rate of leukemia. Those children were exposed to fields of three milligauss or more. Milligauss is the unit of measurement for 60-hertz fields created by alternating current power.
“We have received quite a bit of information concurring (there is a danger),” says Palatine resident Karen Belsha. “Nothing is absolutely conclusive, but there’s enough to be concerned.
“I seldom use a blow dryer, I don’t use an electric blanket, I don’t overly use electrical appliances, nor do I stand on top of my microwave. As far as what’s inside your home, I can control that. I don’t have control of Com Ed putting up additional lines on an easement along my property. That’s what we want.”
Fears about power lines have become clearly noticeable in the real estate industry. Homes near power lines are priced at least $10,000 less than comparable properties away from lines, according to Teri Fearon of Coldwell Banker in Arlington Heights. One couple lived in a home near lines for 25 years, but 18 months after putting it up for sale, the house sits, taken off the market.
Palatine now wants a stake in planning the placement of future power lines, just as new areas must be zoned for commercial or other use.
“As a community,” says Belsha, “we want to say, `This is as far as you can go. If you want to put up more lines, you have to bury them.’ They always say not all the studies are conclusive. Well, that’s fine, but was every study conclusive on asbestos and tobacco in the beginning? I think it’s time for (Com Ed) to take the initiative. When additional lines need to be put in and changes made, it’s time for action.”
