JEA responds to concerns over Bartram Springs' high-voltage power lines project

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — First Coast News continues to dig deeper into the controversial high-voltage power line project going in next to the Bartram Springs community in St. Johns County.

Families who live there have expressed concerns, such as health impacts or changes to their property values.

Following a heated meeting between JEA and Bartram Springs residents last month that ended with lingering concerns for many families, First Coast News' On Your Side Team followed up with JEA to get more answers about the project. 

We've posted all of our questions, along with their responses, below.

JEA Information Request – First Coast News – Shelby Danielsen

• Has JEA reached out to the 40 landowners on the east side of the road to inquire about using their property for the power lines?
• The JEA Real Estate and Transmission Engineering teams evaluated the east and west side of US-1 for real estate property right acquisition complexities. 
• If yes, when, and what was their response? (Can I have a copy of the conversation?) If no, why not?
• Evaluations were conducted in 2008. Conversations were held with multiple landowners.  Detailed notes of the conversations were not retained.
• (Added by JEA: JEA’s evaluation of the route selection led to the conclusion the west side of US-1, adjacent the railroad, arterial highway, and utility and communication systems, was the preferred route.) At Thursday night's town hall meeting, JEA engineers said building on the west side, next to Bartram Springs, was the cheapest option. Can I have a breakdown of the cost estimates for each option considered for this project? 
• Criteria included present and future development impact, economic impact, environmental impact, and development impact. Cost is only one component of consideration when property is acquired for utilities. 
• Engineers said building on the east side would impact potential development there. How would it impact development on the east side differently than how it will be impacting the Bartram Springs development on the west side? Also, what "potential development" were they referring to? 
• Evaluation of the routes did not indicate property values would be negatively impacted on the west side of US-1, adjacent a railroad and an arterial highway. 
• The power line along US-1, will not be noticeable to the vast majority of Bartram Springs development due to the distance between the dwellings and the future power line and the existence of a vegetative buffer along the west side of the railroad corridor which provides significant visual buffer.  
• Constructing the power line on the east side of US-1 would have been pushed eastward, out of the ROW, due to utility crowding in the ROW.  This would have necessitated directly taking property from owners on the east side of US-1.  
• If even one owner had contested the taking and forced a condemnation process, the presence of a viable alternative on the western side of US-1 would have resulted in the failure of the condemnation process.
• Some of your engineers used the words "easier" and "cheaper" to describe the placement of the power lines next to Bartram Springs, can JEA understand why this would upset homeowners in Bartram Springs? 
• Yes. We understand that better word choice would have been more appropriate. The power lines being installed on the west side of the road will be better for overall constructability and long term maintenance. 
• There is a good possibility that the Florida Department of transportation could want to widen US-1 at some point in the future which would require JEA to relocate poles. The existing smaller distribution lines on the east side would need to be underbuilt which contributes to design complexity and complicates future operations and maintenance. 
• Cost for property acquisition on the east side of the road would be exponentially more as well as pushing out the project timeline an undetermined amount of time should there be tie-up in property owner negotiations or litigation (which is very likely). 
• JEA needs to be prepared to meet the electrical needs of all (current and future) its customers in one of the fastest growing areas of Jacksonville and in the State of Florida. 
• Why can the power poles not be moved to the other side of the road just for the portion in front of Bartram Springs? 

A better route exists at the current location of the proposed power line. Some of these reasons include:

• Cost: It would be a significant expense to alter the path of the line. The entire line south of 9B would have to be redesigned, new easements would need to be acquired and purchased, additional tree mitigation would be required, new permits would have to be issued, new poles would have to be ordered. There would be substantial construction delay(s) and change orders to contracts as a result of the change in scope. 
• Conflicts: There are multiple underground conflicts along the eastern route with existing utilities. Utilities would need to be relocated. 
• Maintenance: There is an existing overhead distribution circuit currently located on the north-east side of the highway. Maintenance on this distribution line would become more difficult as outages on the overhead transmission line would be required to change out poles and perform general maintenance. Building a transmission line over an existing distribution line is common practice, however, when an alternate route exists, it is not logical to create a maintenance issue. 
• Easements: Easements would need to be purchased for the entire length of the line that is to be relocated. The easements would be needed for conductor “blow-out”, the conductor swing that occurs when wires are displaced by wind. 
• Road Widening: If FDOT wants to widen Philips Highway, and JEA’s poles are in conflict, JEA would be forced to relocate the poles outside the FDOT right-of-way. At the current location, the only authority that could force JEA to relocate is FEC. 

My second set of questions have to deal with the health concerns of families living in close proximity to the power lines.  

• On one of Dr. Bretas presentation slides, it said "not conclusive" in regard to negative effects on fertility. If this data is inconclusive, how can families be sure they are not harmed? 
• JEA’s electric design meets all Florida Administrative Codes and Florida Department of Environmental Protection Requirements and Guidelines. JEA is in total compliance with the limits set for electric and magnetic fields. 
• Alongside Philips highway, magnetic and electric fields were calculated at the worst case scenario, at a maximum operating voltage of 241kV and a maximum continuous load of 2080 amps. Fields were calculated at a distance of 50 feet from the conductors, at the mid spans. The code allows for a maximum magnetic field of 150mG. 
• The highest calculated magnetic field is 37.31mG between structures #84 and #60. Actual magnetic fields will likely never approach this value as the line is rarely if ever run at maximum ampacity. Typical values that can be expected at 200 feet away from the lines may approach 3mG. 
• According to the National Cancer Society, there are mixed results in regard to magnetic fields. How can families be sure their children won't be impacted? This is an excerpt from their article: "A number of studies have looked at a possible link between ELF radiation from magnetic fields in the home and childhood leukemia, with mixed results. Still, when the findings from these studies are combined, a small increase in risk is seen for children at the highest exposure levels compared to those with the lowest exposure levels. Studies looking at the effect of ELF electric fields on childhood leukemia have not found a link."  
• See similar information in previous question.
  
• JEA’s electric design meets all Florida Administrative Codes (FAC) and Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Requirements and Guidelines. JEA is in total compliance with the limits set for electric and magnetic fields. Professor Bretas’ statement included the following “Not conclusive. Research with in vitro samples and rats, mainly at radio frequency and B-Flux levels of at least 30 mG. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3341445/”.
• According to a 20 year study by some EMF experts, they recommend 700 feet as a safe distance from high voltage power poles (on metal towers). Some homes in Bartram Springs are within 200 feet. Does JEA have different data showing this distance is safe? Here is the study: https://emfinfo.org/guidelines-distance.html. 
• JEA has completed an EMF study for this project that was submitted to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (attached study). 
• JEA’s electric design meets all Florida Administrative Codes and Florida Department of Environmental Protection Requirements and Guidelines. 
• JEA is in total compliance with the limits set for electric and magnetic fields. At 200-feet the expected levels of magnetic fields from the 230 kV power lines will approach 3mG, which is an acceptable limit per the code. 
• Has JEA used any forms of EMF devices, such as a gauss meter, to detect the radiation around the Bartram Springs homes? What were the results? 
• Same answer as above. 
• JEA has completed an EMF study (attached) for this project that was submitted to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (attach study). 
• JEA’s electric design meets all Florida Administrative Codes and Florida Department of Environmental Protection Requirements and Guidelines. JEA is in total compliance with the limits set for electric and magnetic fields. 
• In the examples JEA used showing the other locations where these power lines are in use on the first coast, such as the Tamaya neighborhood and Baptist South, can you tell me if these power lines are the exact same voltage and size as the poles going in next to Bartram Springs?
• The voltage, type of structure, number of structures, number of circuits, and load (at the time) vary from location to location. JEA is installing 102 to 106 foot tall monopoles, concrete spun 230 kV, transmission poles and lines alongside Philips Highway that will be directly across the Bartram Springs neighborhood. The examples shown during the meeting are very similar to the type and size of poles that will be installed. 

My last set of questions have to deal with the handling of the project and its timeline going forward:

• What is the protocol for notifying the public about projects that could impact their homes or community?
• JEA can have hundreds of new projects in its service territory every year. Each electric, water and sewer project is handled differently as no two projects are the same. This project was noticed to the public approximately 2 months prior to the planned construction start date period. 
• Some examples of how JEA notifies our customers is through door hangers, U.S. mail, email, public meetings, JEA website, social media, and through local media. All of these media (except for door hangers) were used for this project.
• Can you give me the date for when this project initially began? 
• JEA’s Electric System Planning team has been forecasting the need for additional electric infrastructure in southeast portion of our service territory for well over a decade. JEA’s necessity for additional infrastructure in this area has been linked to the rise and fall and subsequent recovery of the U.S. economy over that time period. 
• Many projects that were planned at one time or another were cancelled or significantly delayed. This was a common thread for all businesses throughout our industry. 
• With the recent recovery of the economy and exponential growth in this area, JEA is now at the point where it is critical to our core mission to provide safe, reliable and affordable power that we install the additional infrastructure needed to serve both our current and future customers in your community. 
• The project construction itself has not started. 
• The first internal scoping document was created on 8/12/2016. 
• The scope of the project for the current design was created on 3/23/2018. 
• JEA Electric Planning team has been looking into building a new circuit as far back as 2006.
• When was physical work started on this project?
• JEA installed stakes into the ground marking the final pole locations. This operation was completed in December 2018. Aside from staking, no construction has taken place to date while we provided additional information to customers.
• Why did JEA not notify homeowners sooner about the project? 
• Public notified approximately 2 months prior to original planned start date: Estimated project start date was originally set for Mid-March 2019 
• Initial public meeting invite (9,419 customers) sent: 1/24/19 
• Initial public meeting reminder invite (9,419) sent: 2/7/19
• 1st project public meeting date: 2/7/19
• 2nd public meeting invite (9,457) sent: 3/13/19
• 2nd public meeting follow-invite (9,460) sent: 3/27/19
• Second project town meeting date: 3/28/19
• Estimated project start date provided to public was Mid-March 2019 with March 25, 2019 being the probable start date
• What data can JEA provide to show the power lines will not decrease property value in Bartram Springs?
• See attachment
• When will work on the project resume? 
• We anticipate to start construction in early May 2019. Mobilization may start as soon as mid-April, 2019. 
• When is the project expected to be complete? 
• We anticipate construction to be completed for phase 1 by October 2019 and Phase 2 to be completed by April 2020 – These dates are highly subject to change. 
• Are there any more projects for high voltage power lines in the works or soon to be in the works by JEA? 
• Dinsmore Substation Interconnect: September 30, 2019 – October 11, 2019, Installing 5 new poles within existing transmission line easement.  
• Circuit 915 Rebuild: April 2020 (about 2 weeks of construction - Date TBD)
• Since projects by JEA may be in the works before they are made public, does JEA recommend future homeowners/renters reach out to JEA to ask about any utility plans or projects that could impact properties? 
• Major projects are identified in the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) provided annually to the City, available at coj.net.
• Customers can also contact JEA’s Project Outreach team (665-7500) to ask about any current or future JEA projects in their area. There is also a JEA construction website located at jea.com/construction.