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| Crane setting new power poles on hill side |
Upgrading from a wooden 2 pole 69,000 volt line to a single steel monopole 345,000 volt line.
The reason demand for power in the eastern end of the city of Pittsburgh and the advanced age of the old line which has been peaked out several times and failed over the last decade and was torn down and knocked out by a small tornado which came thru in late 90's
they started the line replacement in 2010 making good progress till they got to the Longue Vue Country Club. who had a hissy fit and went running to a judge to get the line stopped with a injunction. Because they said it would interfere with the premiere view they have really I have been up there its not so grand.
Initially Duquesne light won the first round but then a judge stopped the line on appeal which Duquesne Light appealed
as thousands of dollars where being lost every day the construction was halted .
Now I can understand they did not want to see the power line but in the same breath they where putting lives in jeopardy as the east end of Pittsburgh kept losing power during one of the hottest summers on record around here putting lives in jeopardy every time AC went out in the homes of elderly and those with breathing issues and power to traffic lights went off causing major back ups and dangers of accidents . I personally saw this many times this summer traveling thru the east end to customers and one of the supply houses I buy from in Wilkinsburg . This club knew all along what was going on and what was to come Duquesne Light was up front with everyone one what they where doing and they had already replaced the line up here into Penn Hills Sub Station with no issues. Of course there was all kind of screaming over that one for no reason and you know it was nice we did not lose our power this summer like we normally did the power has been staying on and steady in the worst of storms something it never did before.
What the whole issue came down to appears to be nothing more than sour grapes for the country club. Lets face it all the clubs around here are hurting as demographics are changing the whole area is going from white middle class suburbs to a mix of self employed and working class and the bad economy is not helping . Longue View it self is in the middle of one of the parts of Penn hills where ghetto creep is very prevalent they may be a premiere club but its not one of the names I hear among my affluent customers who play golf ever say their going there to play . In fact Alcoma was sold and renamed 3 lakes and its pool closed and Church Hill is now open to public and has troubles as do almost all the other country clubs all over Allegheny County as Very High Real Estate Taxes less people having the time and or money or desire to play golf and or hold social functions at these places. In the last decade several clubs in the area have closed and where redeveloped.
But luckily in the end they lost and construction is now proceeding and people in the east end of Pittsburgh and its surrounding suburbs will enjoy good solid power and developers will be able to continue the clean up and redevelopment of the slummy sections of Pittsburgh and hopefully Wilkinsburg as well because if you do not have available electric power,water and sewers you can not develop.
Three decades ago Penn Power told Cranberry Pa. they had to put in poles and update or they could not develop there was not enough power and Cranberry relented and you should see the place now . I hope its the same for around here.
One good thing Pa. also generates renewable energy in many ways including Solar Power in limited amounts due to poor sun available ,Wind Power and Hydro Power from local rivers. in this area and actually exceeds goals set by EPA green standards
and with more and more generating facility converting to Natural Gas and closing down or installing scrubbing equipment on Coal Fired Plants , and all the utility's pushing rebates to install energy efficient lighting and motors there has been significant strides with protecting the environment. I always try and design electrical installs to allow for maximum energy savings when possible by up-sizing wire conductor sizes, using high efficiency motors etc.
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