Alternative One

Montanore Minerals Corporation proposes stringing high-voltage power lines through the Kootenai National Forest in a 16 mile long, up to 200 foot wide cleared corridor. The currently “preferred” route starts at Highway 2 and runs along Miller Creek, traversing old growth forest as well as  threatened species and big game habitat.

Alternative One calls on the federal and state agencies reviewing Montanore Minerals Corp.’s permit applications to commission a site-specific review of the underground transmission line alternative.

At the crest of the high-voltage route, the lines come within a few hundred feet of the only occupied private property within miles.  It then snakes through the Howard Lake recreation area – the only developed campground in the upper Libby Creek region – crosses Libby Creek and ends up at the mine’s proposed industrial complex.

Envision not a corridor but a 16-lane super-highway cutting across the interwoven evergreens that currently clothe the national forest.  Embellish this denuded backdrop with brushstrokes of black power cables strung between monstrous high-rise towers at regular intervals.

Now imagine spring run-off or late autumn rain torrents sluicing down the mountain slopes along this vast bare dirt freeway, carrying untold quantities of mud and uprooted vegetation into the surface waterways of the once-vibrant ecosystem.

Look below the surface of Libby Creek, Midas Creek, Poorman Creek, Cherry Creek, Bear Creek and Ramsey Creek to see the sediment from this super-highway of erosion smothering aquatic life.  Watch as these waterways carry sediment to the Kootenai River in a continuing path of destruction.

Many of the environmental and health dangers posed by high-voltage transmission lines on protected federal lands could be mitigated by burying the lines underground.  Advantages of buried lines include:

• Impervious to storm damage
• Minimal danger of forest fires
• Lower maintenance costs
• No helicopter stringing or maintenance required
• Enhanced electric reliability
• Safer for wildlife
• Safer for public
• Can be installed along existing roadways with far less habitat disturbance
• Saves significant maintenance and operating costs

According to Underground2020.org, communities throughout the country, from Florida to Oklahoma, are instituting creative funding programs that enable more existing above-ground lines to be “undergrounded.” One reason this is more feasible than ever before is a relatively new technology called horizontal directional drilling (HDD) that reduces installation costs and minimizes installation disruption.  HDD also reduces subsequent sinking common to open-trench installation.

Even though a cursory agency review of underground placement of Montanore’s proposed high-voltage power lines concludes the cost is prohibitive, only an in-depth evaluation of specific factors can determine a realistic cost comparison.  A study of underground electric transmission lines by The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin states: “While it may be useful to sometimes compare the general cost differences between overhead and underground construction, the actual costs for underground may be quite different. Underground transmission construction can be very site-specific, especially for higher voltage lines.” 

Alternative One calls on the federal and state agencies reviewing Montanore Minerals Corp.’s permit applications to commission a site-specific review of the underground transmission line alternative. The cost of the mine’s proposed degradation of old growth forest, lynx denning habitat, grizzly habitat, water resources and bull trout habitat, recreational and aesthetic values of publicly protected lands demands a thorough look at ways to minimize the damages. 

Given the dangers of forest fires and erosion from above-ground transmission line installation, the federal and state government could save a significant quantity of taxpayer dollars by requiring MMC to proactively eliminate the risks. The higher cost of burying these power lines – between 4 and 10 times the cost of above-ground installation – is not only a viable but an absolutely essential alternative.