Bare Ground Isn't Blank Ground

I think it's fair to say Northeast Indiana is not happy about the proposed high voltage power lines for the Lulu-Sorenson Transmission Improvements Project.

I attended the open house in Angola. When I arrived at 4:35, I had a five-minute wait. By the time I left at 5:10, the line had grown to several hundred feet long. People don't stand in line on a weeknight for coffee and poster boards. They stand in line because something matters.

The few people I spoke with shared the same frustration I did. It appeared there was no value placed on bare farm ground. There was information about how you could still farm around the towers, but underneath it all, farm ground was still treated like a wasteland waiting to be capitalized on by something better than just farming.

The feeling that it's just farm ground isn't only shared by the people proposing these routes. It's shared by local officials too. Just this week, the City of Auburn published a letter from the mayor saying it would be so much better for the community if the power lines went to the east side of the county. You know what's on the east side of the county? Farm ground. And I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Whether you're talking about a solar farm, a data center, or another subdivision, everybody looks at it as just bare farm ground, something to be covered with a higher, better, more valuable purpose than raising a crop or raising livestock.

What's missed in the assumption that bare farm ground is just farm ground is not only the heritage behind it, but also its future use.

One of the farms on the proposed route was bought by my great-great-great-grandmother in 1855 and passed to her sons. Another was bought by my great-grandparents in 1902. From the road, both look like bare ground. They aren't blank. They carry generations of decisions behind them and plans for the generations ahead.

The assumption that bare farm ground is just farm ground, and that an easement can simply be laid across it, eliminates the possibility of any other type of agriculture beyond attempting to farm around it. No livestock buildings. No machinery storage. No grain bins. No houses. Just a 175-foot-tall hunk of steel transmitting electricity, permanently.

Looking out at the Patio this morning as a family of deer munched on dropped apples in our orchard, I kept coming back to one thought. Something being quiet doesn't mean it's empty. A field in September looks like it's just waiting. It isn't. It's holding a family's past and its options for the future, and those deserve to be counted.

There's another thing massively missing. Not once, at the open house or in anything I've read, have I seen a discussion of compensation. No compensation for the loss of future value. No compensation for a perpetual right-of-way. No conversation with the people who will be affected by whichever route is chosen. There was just a poster talking about how great this is for the community, bringing electricity to everyone. Here's what rubs me. If it goes through my farm and I lose that future value, I'm giving up more for the greater good than I'll ever be compensated for.

The other thing that struck me is how backwards this whole process is. I&M doesn't have to prove they have a good route. The landowners have to prove it's a bad one. One of the employees at the open house even told me this was a desktop exercise by their people, and that you can't expect them to know everything about each parcel. After I shared my frustrations on Facebook, a follower told me about their own conversation with I&M. When they mentioned there were already high voltage lines on their property, the employee was surprised and said, "That's good to know." I understand that nobody can know everything. But if they don't know what's on each parcel, then they don't know what they're asking us to give up.

If the line crosses your ground, or your neighbor's, make your comment. Put the heritage and the plans in writing. For my part, I sent my letters after last night's meeting. I&M is accepting feedback through October 9 at www.IndianaMichiganPower.com/Lulu-Sorenson or by email at IMoutreach@aeptransmission.com. And whether you farm or not, you know the feeling of someone looking at something you've built and seeing only what they can use it for.