The 345-kilovolt transmission lines would connect the switching station north of Salado to a switching station in Hutto to provide power to Williamson and Travis counties.
TXU first proposed the project in November 2006 but several months ago asked the Public Utilities Commission to put its application on hold.
Now the $93 million project is back on track and opponents to the plan are running out of options.
Village aldermen will meet in executive session to discuss their options with the village attorney. The board voted last week to be a party of interest in the project, alderman Merle Stalcup said Wednesday. Any action the aldermen might take tonight will be made when the meeting reconvenes in a public session.
“The board has asked me to do all we can do to intervene in the process,” Salado Mayor Rick Ashe said. “We have to decide the best way to intervene and the way to do that is to meet with the attorney to find out what we have to do and what we can do.”
Sue Gloyna, who along with her husband, David, has led a group of Salado residents who oppose the project’s route through Salado’s ETJ, said Tuesday that the group has never opposed the project itself, just the route the project is expected to follow.
“Our opposition is not to the transmission lines being built,” she said. “We don’t want a situation like California had a couple of years ago with rolling brownouts. We’re opposed to the route, which zigzags all over farm land and private property to Salado, which won’t even get the benefit of the new lines.
“Connecting to the Bell County switching station about 7.8 miles northeast of Salado is a better route, and it would be cheaper.”
The Bell County station is already equipped to handle lines of this size, she added.
Right of way easements are expected to be 160 feet wide for the towers that will be placed every 1,000 to 1,200 feet along the route.
The 345-kilovolt towers on which the lines are strung are between 110 and 170 feet tall and nearly 74 feet wide.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has indicated a need to provide a bulk electric transfer path from the San Antonio area to Bell County. The Hutto to Bell County phase is part of that project.
ccoppedge@temple-telegram.com
