A group of Nebraska landowners don’t like the idea of a high voltage electrical transmission line being constructed in the Sand Hills. The NPPD project was approved a year ago in March and Public Comment Hearings just wrapped up. One of those landowners testifying against the project was Holt and Wheeler County rancher Troy Petersen. He says one concern is that the heavy construction equipment for the line will tear up the fragile Sand Hills.
Petersen says another major concern is that the sandy soil will blow away once it’s disturbed by the NPPD construction.
He says many of the landowners likely won’t sign the necessary easements so the project can go forward. He says there’s been a suggestion that NPPD may attempt to invoke eminent domain.
Petersen says NPPD is going to have a hard time getting eminent domain because they haven’t proven in a court of law that it is a necessary project. He also says there are substations on either end of the proposed project but none of those will be supplying power to people in the Sand Hills from this line.