Murphy – Officials are continuing efforts to restrict a proposed power transmission line in northwestern Cherokee County.
Tennessee Valley Authority representatives met with Cherokee County commissioners earlier this month to discuss the project – breaking the board into smaller sections to avoid violating open meeting rules.
TVA hosted a virtual open house on its website. The virtual open house stopped accepting new comments and questions on Feb. 20. County commissioners now want TVA to hold an in-person public meeting to answer questions and address concerns from affected property owners.
“We’re not going to give up,” District 2 Commissioner Randy Phillips said. “As long as they’re not doing construction, we’re still in the ball game.”
County officials have also reached out for help from state and federal lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.), who represents Cherokee and surrounding counties.
TVA is a federal agency that wants to build a switching station and about 27 miles of power line on 100-foot-wide right-of-way easement for which it would compensate property owners. TVA says it is building the extension “in order to provide power for growing load and increase power reliability in the Appalachia area.”
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., and extend southeast to the Tap to Ranger and Harshaw Road-Weaver transmission lines and 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. TVA sent letters to 365 landowners whose properties are being considered for the project.
TVA refused to honor a request by Cherokee County government to send a representative to the Feb. 6 Board of Commissioners meeting, saying that two commissioners own land that could be affected by the project.
In fact, just one commissioner, Jan Griggs of District 5, owns land in the project area. She had offered to recuse herself from any meetings with TVA to avoid the appearance of favoritism. Nevertheless, Griggs attended a meeting with TVA when it sent a representative earlier this month.
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.
“It is important to remember that property owners still own their land,” TVA spokesman Scott Fiedler said. “TVA will compensate them for the easement at fair market value.”
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.
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.