Meanwhile here in Cow Hampshire we have a fight going on to bring Hydro Electric power down from Quebec into NH and southern New England. It is billion dollar project that will create hundreds of jobs called the Northern Pass. The power comes from the dams on the St. Lawrence seaway and other hydro electric projects in Quebec. It does not add any CO2 to the atmosphere and can be produced 24/7 for about $.001/KW. However, because the people up in northern NH do not want high tension power lines in their backyard(I can’t blame them)the project has been a big fight backed by the environmental groups. They will probably have to bury some of the lines to get it approved. There is only about 30 miles of right of way they are fighting over. In most of the state it will travel over existing right of ways. Also, there are absolutely no endangered birds, frogs, bats, grasshoppers or fish that will be hurt in any way.
Environmentalists protest anything that impedes the flow of Arab oil.
You mentioned above ground versus buried power lines. I never could understand why in areas that are prone to strong winds and tornadoes etc., why they persisted in having above ground lines that had to be continuously replaced after bad weather. My neighbor who was an engineer for the power company told me the cost of continuously replacing downed above ground power lines was much cheaper on a 10-20 year expense basis than to bury the lines. Result is, the users are inconvenienced by a power outage for days because the power companies save money by not burying the lines. Same old story...”FOLLOW THE MONEY”. I guess I am just cynical.