TVA plans to build 27-mile transmission line, with 14 miles of new easements affecting 365 landowners across region
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Randy Foster/editor@cherokeescout.com Becky Wright has turned her dining room table into a project space in her fight against the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans to install power transmission lines in western Cherokee County, including the Bell Hill Road property where she lives.
Ranger – Becky Wright has history and plans for the 14-plus acres she owns off Bell Hill Road.
The property has been owned by the family since 1938. She scattered her husband’s ashes in the woods above her house following his tragic death in 2012, when Tony Wright and a fellow N.C. Department of Transportation worker were killed after a vehicle crashed into their truck.
More recently, Wright installed a tiny house where she plans to live. Her nephew will move into the main house that she and her husband built, and she planned to let her son have the back third of the property.
Since late 2022, she has been busy getting it ready for the big move. However, on Jan. 18, she received a letter from the Tennessee Valley Authority informing her of TVA’s own plans for her property.
“You are invited to access a virtual open house … concerning a proposed transmission line project in Polk County in Tennessee and Cherokee County in North Carolina,” said the letter, dated Jan. 12 but that arrived a week later.
Tax records indicate that one of several alternative line segments may be on or near property she owns, the letter says.
Wright is not alone. She was one of 365 landowners owning 400 parcels large and small potentially affected by the project, said Cherokee County Commissioner Jan Griggs, who owns property in the target area.
“In order to provide power for growing load and increase power reliability in the Appalachia area, the Tennessee Valley Authority is proposing to build a switching station in Murphy, North Carolina, and about 27 miles of primarily single-circuit power line,” according to the letter.
The line would be built using primarily H-frame, steel structures, with steel towers and single-pole structures where necessary. The new line will be on existing and new 100-foot-wide right of way. The scheduled completion date for this project is winter 2026-27.
The proposed line would begin at TVA’s existing Apalachia Hydro Plant in Reliance, Tenn., extend southeast to the Tap to Ranger and Harshaw Road-Weaver transmission lines, then connect them to a switching station TVA wants to build on one of two possible sites in Martins Creek. It would use up to 14 miles of existing vacant right of way and up to 14 miles of new, 100-foot-wide right of way, according to TVA.
The local impacts
From the maps TVA sent to Wright, the project would create a 650- by 100-foot swath of cleared woods and steel towers across her property, bisecting the parcel right where she and her son had plans and where her husband’s ashes were scattered.
That’s just her situation among the 365 landowners who were sent letters. Wright said one path cuts right through Griggs’ barn.
Cherokee County officials asked TVA to send a representative to the Feb. 6 board of commissioners meeting to answer questions about the project. TVA declined, saying there was a scheduling conflict but hinted that an appearance at the Feb. 20 board meeting might be possible.
Wright and other affected property owners attended the Feb. 6 board of commissioners meeting expecting TVA to be present. According to County Commissioner Jan Griggs, she is the only board member whose property would be affected and offered to recuse herself if TVA would attend.
TVA spokesman Scott Fiedler settled that matter, saying, “Because some commissioners may be impacted, it would be inappropriate to participate in the commission meeting. To be fair to everyone, TVA posted information online so everyone can review the project and provide comments.”
Griggs and some affected property owners contacted their state representatives. Because TVA is a federal agency and it is a federal project, the issue was bumped up to congressional representatives.
The project
“It is important to remember that property owners still own their land,” Fiedler said. “TVA will compensate them for the easement at fair market value.”
TVA has determined that in various maintenance contingency scenarios, the Appalachia area transmission system is overloaded. The primary need for this project is to increase power reliability and provide power for growing load in the Appalachia area. The project would also allow for more flexibility in regional operation and maintenance required to strengthen the system.
TVA plans its transmission system according to industrywide standards established by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation that state that the TVA transmission system must be able to provide power during a single-failure event while continuing to serve customer loan with adequate voltage and no overloaded facilities, while maintaining adequate transmission line clearances as required by the national Electric Safety Code.
Connecting the station in Ranger with the new transmission line would provide two sources of power to this station versus one, TVA said.
The proposed Martins Creek Switching station would add additional protection, maintenance capabilities, and regional flexibility, therefore decreasing the affected areas if a fault were to occur, TVA said.
The project also adds additional operational flexibility for transmission and generation in the area. The project also helps ensure scheduled maintenance resulting in higher equipment reliability.
Finally, there would be increased transmission capacity at the Ranger 161-kV substation providing for growth and further economic development in the area.
TVA will take into account such factors as public input, existing dwellings, current land use, and property parcels. Environmental concerns will also affect the decision, and include wetlands, threatened and endangered resources, areas that are listed or eligible for National Register of Historic Places, stream crossings, sinkholes and terrain.
Engineering factors include route length, access, airports, terrain, land clearing and road crossings.
TVA will announce its preferred route on its website, letters to affected property owners, and news releases to local media.
Here is the project timeline, with dates subject to change:
Jan. 19: Virtual Open House began.
Feb. 20: Comment period ends.
Late spring 2023: Determine preferred route for field surveys.
Winter 2023-24: Surveys of the right of way are scheduled to begin
2025: Easement purchases scheduled to begin.
Winter 2025-26: Construction set to begin.
Winter 2026-27: Project in service.
The opposition
Wright said many of her neighbors don’t recall receiving notification letters from TVA, some discarded them thinking it was junk mail, and many were unaware of the public notices published in the area in print and online. She has been making it her mission to make sure affected property owners know about the project and have their say.
“We were blindsided; we had no time,” she said.
The new lines could be located on property already owned by TVA or where there are existing easements, she said.
The power transmission lines will harm the environment, increase erosion affecting local water supplies, and threaten wildlife in the area. For people who reside close to the power lines, they will have to endure the “buzz” sound that will come once the lines are energized.
“It doesn’t make common sense,” she said.
“I didn’t imagine I’d be fighting this battle,” she said, adding that her grandfather helped bring electricity to the area in the early 20th century.
As for her late husband Tony, “He would not want this. He would want me to use my voice.”
Wright wonders whether Cherokee County’s crypto mining industry had something to do with this project. A crypto mine is located next to the TVA’s Ranger station, she added.
“There’s more driving this,” she said.
Fiedler rejected allegations of cryptocurrency being behind the project.
“Cryptocurrency is not a TVA target market,” he said. “Our target markets include: Advanced Manufacturing, Aerospace and Defense, Consumer Products, Industrial Products, [and] Transportation-Related Manufacturing.
“Our goal is to bring jobs and investment to the communities we serve,” he said. “TVA has helped attract $2.7 billion of business additions and expansions, which is projected to create or retain more than 21,700 jobs, in the first fiscal quarter alone. Over the past five years, those figures are much larger – 346,000 jobs and $47 billion of investment.
“Outstanding economic growth, combined with overall population growth in our region, is driving energy demand,” he said.
“In our region, population growth was about six times higher than the national rate. This should come as no surprise as the South is the fastest-growing region in the nation. As a result, TVA is considering improvements to its transmission system that would provide power for growing load and increase power reliability in the Appalachia area of Polk County in Tennessee and Cherokee County in North Carolina,” he said.