OUR TURN: LCRA must listen to the people
The people have spoken. The Burnet County Commissioners Court has spoken. And, most important, the state Public Utilities Commission has spoken.
All of them have told the Lower Colorado River Authority to go back to the drawing board and come up with another route for a planned wind-power transmission line that doesn’t involve erecting it near scenic Lake Buchanan.
And now LCRA says it is going to do just that. Wise move.
LCRA has the right idea to make the energy grid more efficient. And while wind power has its pluses and minuses, most everyone can agree it’s clean energy and generally plentiful.
But plans to erect a potential line near Lake Buchanan that stretches to Lampasas County have created a great deal of ill will.
LCRA has twice gone before the PUC arguing that an application for the project be approved.
In the latest charge, the PUC responded it will wait on a report from electrical engineers from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
Critics of the LCRA application claim the line will detract from the landscape and harm wildlife near the lake. In addition, they have asked whether LCRA can develop alternative routes for the line.
Good for the PUC for standing firm. The line will get built one way or another, but LCRA must be willing to work with everyone concerned.