By Jennifer Borrasso
Residents in part of our area got to sound off about a controversial power line project but will the anger stop the project?
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A community vows to keep fighting PPL and its proposal for a bigger and more powerful power line right through its back yard.
More than 100 residents of the Saw Creek development near Bushkill turned out Wednesday night for an open house hosted by PPL.
They spoke out against plans to expand a high-voltage power line that runs through their community.
PPL wants to replace the old towers in Pike County with new towers that are more than twice as high. New lines will carry twice as much current.
The project is part of the proposed Susquehanna-Roseland power line that would run right through Saw Creek Estates near Bushkill.
Homeowners such as Beverly Karter came to PPL's open house at the Fernwood Hotel to show their opposition. Karter is part of a community group called "Stop the Towers."
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"Do they have a right away to come in and destroy our community? We have to close our pool. There are people who rent their homes out in the summer, will they be able to do that with the dynamite and blasting?" asked Karter.
A PPL spokesperson said he understands most of the people there don't want the new lines, but the company said it is not going to move or stop this project.
"There is already a power line there. This power line has to be rebuilt anyway because it is the oldest or second oldest east of the Mississippi, so it makes sense to build it here," said PPL spokesperson Paul Wirth.
PPL said it has the necessary property rights for the planned power line between the nuclear plant near Berwick and New Jersey, but the Saw Creek Estates Community Association has hired a lawyer to pursue legal options.
"(There are) 3,147 of them directly affected, but we are all directly affected. It affects our amenities," said association president Derren Bacher.
The Pennsylvania Utility Commission still needs to approve PPL's plans.
If that happens, then construction on the new power line through Pike County could start in early 2010.
