Calif. Regulators Clear Controversial Grid Project

California utility regulators recently approved a controversial $207 million project for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to build a new transmission line to give San Francisco more reliable electricity service.

The five-member California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved the 27-mile-long project for the PG&E Corp. subsidiary despite strong opposition from 400 residents of the upscale suburb of Burlingame, who wanted the line undergrounded and moved farther away from their homes.

They feared possible health effects from electric and magnetic fields -- EMFs -- created by the 230,000-volt line, plus reduced property values, Terry Nagel, a member of the Burlingame City Council, told the commission.

But the commission selected a route closer to the homes with the line underground at a depth of 11 feet near residential neighborhoods, schools and day-care centers.

Underground lines usually are built at a depth of 5 to 6 feet.

Michael Peevey, president of the commission, said San Francisco urgently needs the new line to make the city grid more reliable and to allow the shutdown of a 56-year-old PG&E power plant in a poor neighborhood of the city.

Residents for years have complained that pollutants from the plant cause poor health in their neighborhood, including asthma and a range of cancers.

San Francisco currently has two aging power stations and a single transmission corridor.

Peevey acknowledged there was "great concern" about the health effects of EMFs among foes of the line, but said he was "unconvinced the that science is developed enough to have us change our standards."

Nevertheless, the commission voted later to investigate whether it needs to change its rules on EMFs and transmission lines or other utility equipment.

A spokesman for PG&E said the line could be in service in 2006.

California's push to build more transmission lines to satisfy growing demand for electricity is stirring concern about EMFs.

A review of scientific studies by the state's Department of Health Services said there was no conclusive evidence EMFs are harmful, but studies have suggested links to childhood leukemia, adult brain cancer, Lou Gehrig's disease and miscarriage.