Around 40 property owners from the Bell Schoolhouse community unanimously voiced disapproval of the proposed Southern Cross Transmission project at a meeting Thursday evening.
The project has been in discussion for around six years, residents said. The proposed high voltage, direct current transmission line project would run 400 miles of lines from Texas to the Alabama border. Southern Cross is a subsidiary of Pattern Energy Group, and Southern Cross sent out 6,500 letters to possibly affected residents. The line would run 500 kilovolt wind power transmission lines across parts of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. The project is slated to cost $700 million.
Bell Schoolhouse property owner Dennis Daniels said he was against the project due to the possibility of the transmission line drastically reducing the value of his property. His family has owned property in the area since the 1800s. After the meeting, Daniels said he was planning to organize another joint community meeting with Dodds to collectively voice concerns against the project—to unanimous approval of attendees.
"I had a problem with the short notice they gave us," Daniels said. "We had very little time to organize and react. The routing—through our property—would destroy our property value, restrict our access and take [away] about 13 acres of our property."
For more, see the July 29 edition.