Bell County landowners gather in Salado to protest 400-mile long powerline project

SALADO, Texas (KWTX) - Hundreds of miles worth of powerlines are potentially going to stretch through much of Bell County.

Bell County landowners met Wednesday night to talk about their options to put this to a stop before they say their land is destroyed.

The meeting was hosted by Bell County residents for Bell County residents because organizers of the conversation say landowners weren’t given the heads up they deserve that their properties could be compromised.

“While the routes were influx, some people have only had thirty days to understand the process and some have not been notified at all,” says John Bradley.

Bradley is a Bell County landowner and he, along with many others, are concerned about a project like this would do to their land. As well as general concern for the community as a whole.

“The burden that I see is the environmental impact such as the impact for agriculture and water resources. I could lose all water resources for my property which will affect my livestock,” Bradley tells KWTX.

The project will basically put 765 kilovolt transmission lines across the region and that will double the amount of power than the lines you usually see. It will also require a roughly 50% increase in the size of space needs to install them.

“They’re going to remove every wooded plant, every tree, every bush and they are going to take it down to bare grass and they are going to assault that 200 foot wide strip all across Central Texas,” says Kevin Kennedy.

Kennedy is another landowner who says they have one burning question that has yet to be answered by the state. “Why would you propose a 400 mile transmission line from Bell County? Which in previous studies you have acknowledged has no surplus power?”

Two forms are open for submission. One is for landowners who are expected to be in the path of the project to intervene in the process before ground is broken.

The other form is for concerned residents who may not be affected but just want to let the state know they protest this project.

Those are due on Monday, April 27.

You can find other resources for the project here.

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