A Parker homeowners association is petitioning the town to protest an upcoming Xcel transmission project that’s slated to bring overhead lines through parts of the community.
Rowley Downs Homeowners Association Board Member Mike Roueche sent a letter to the Town of Parker April 8 to oppose a transmission project that will take electricity overhead lines from the Daniels Park substation north of Castle Pines, through northern Parker and through Aurora up to the Smoky Hills substation.
That portion is part of a much larger 125-mile project to add a transmission line from the Daniels Park substation to the Pawnee substation in northeastern Colorado that will carry 345 kilovolts. Xcel plans to begin work on the Douglas-Arapahoe part of the project in 2017 and have it completed by 2019. Senate Bill 100, passed in 2007, called for these extra transmission lines.
“We think the town should consider the welfare of the residents and consider the town residents’ welfare to a petition to the public utilities commission,” Roueche said.
Elise Penington
, spokeswoman for Parker, said that Xcel has yet to submit an application to the town. Since the town has not received the application, she said it would be premature for the town to comment.
Roueche said he and others in his community are concerned about possible noise and possible health risks.
He said the HOA is also opposed to the project because it could result in declining property values and that in 2014, he said he believes there are “better technological approaches than the 19th and 20th century approach of stringing lines on a pole.”
Mark Stutz, spokesperson for Xcel, said the company could use underground lines, but it would cost 40 times more and most likely would not be approved by the public utilities commission because it isn’t prudent or practical. He also said there are no recent, reliable scientific studies linking EMF waves to health risks.
Xcel last month held a series of meetings in Arapahoe and Douglas Counties with local HOAs, businesses and community members about the project. Stutz said previously the project is needed because of additional energy demands on the grid on the Eastern Plains and to carry increased transmission from natural gas and Xcel’s burgeoning wind farms.
“We do take into account everyone’s voice, but before getting too far along, we must first obtain a ruling from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission on the need for the project,” Stutz said in a statement. “If the CPUC agrees that the line is needed, we can then continue our commitment to the local and state permitting processes, and carry on the engagement of interested parties as the process moves forward. At this level, we will go about exploring both the existing corridor and other possible routes.”
Roueche said he met with people from Xcel and they were very nice, but very inflexible when it comes to altering their plans.
“They’re just checking off boxes and saying, ‘We’re going to the Public Utilities Commission with this plan weather you like it or not,'” Roueche said.
Clayton Woullard: 303-954-2953, cwoullard@denverpost.com or twitter.com/yhclayton
