PSEG to warn public of future tower projects

PSEG Long Island will now warn the public of upcoming projects that involve installing power lines and towers.
Arlene Kahn says the 100-foot-tall transmission towers that were put up near her Eastport home are ugly and that she was never informed about their installation.
"We all hate them!" she says.
"It's not characteristic of the community and it's just not something we need," says neighbor Ed Pennfield.
The towers prompted a lawsuit by Brookhaven and Southampton.
On Wednesday, the Long Island Power Authority Board of Trustees approved a new policy requiring PSEG to warn the public about future tower projects.
Some Eastport residents tell News 12 that they like the idea of getting advance warning about such construction projects, but say it comes too late. Some are also angry about another part of LIPA's decision: if a community chooses to bury its wires, local ratepayers will have to finance that at their own expense. Town leaders say the move is wrong.
"PSEG is moving us backwards," says Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman. "This is the wrong direction; the future is burying these power lines."
Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine is also against the move, saying, "LIPA is way behind the times."
But LIPA says that it's unfair to force the rest of its customers to pay for burying wires in communities in which they don't live.
"Make sure those communities that benefit from the undergrounding pay for the undergrounding so the rate payers of the system are protected," says LIPA trustee Jeff Greenfield.