At a City Council meeting March 15, the city of Newcastle reaffirmed its decision to leave a six-month moratorium on any permits for electrical transmission facilities within city borders.

This primarily impacts the controversial Energize Eastside project, but also will have implications for a two-way radio tower for the Puget Sound Emergency Radio Network.

After a recent public hearing that saw divided comments from home and business owners in Newcastle, the City Council voted unanimously to pass an amended resolution, which would stop any permits for electrical projects while the city worked on updating its code toward utilities.

“We appreciate the quick response from Puget Sound Energy whenever there is a problem,” said Newcastle Mayor Rich Crispo. “As long as [the ordinance] allows for a response in emergency situations, I would recommend passing it.”

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) also on March 15 released its preferred route of power transmission for the Energize Eastside project, a route known as Willow 2, which will split two lines near Tyee Middle School in South Bellevue and rejoin them before continuing south near Newcastle.

The project is a proposed action meant to solidify electrical transmission on the Eastside. Several alternatives are available, including an 18-mile 230 kilovolt (kV) transmission line — preferred by PSE — an integrated resource approach, and miles of additional 115 kV lines. Five Eastside cities are currently in the Environmental Impact Statement process analyzing the best option for the area.

PSE’s preferred option would connect the Sammamish substation in Kirkland to the Talbot Hill substation in Renton, running through Kirkland, Redmond, Bellevue, Newcastle and Renton. The majority of the route would replace the every four 65-foot wooden poles with one or two 100-foot metal poles transporting 115 kV lines and 230 kV lines.

Those poles shrink dramatically in size once the Willow 2 route splits into two separate lines, in accordance with some initial public comments from residents in Somerset and Newport Hills who do not want their view impacted. The Draft 1 Environmental Impact Statement comment period ended Monday, March 14. A complete analysis of public comment will be released in the near future.

At the public hearing in Newcastle, some representatives from Coalition of Eastside Neighborhoods for Sensible Energy (CENSE), including President Don Marsh spoke to the unsightly and dangerous nature of the proposed project as they saw it.

Others came in support of the project, as rolling brown-outs — as PSE has predicted by as early as winter of 2017 in their projections (and has been refuted by CENSE’s own projections, which claim the need for the project will not become apparent for decades) — would endanger their businesses and the health of their friends and families.

Of particular importance to opponents of the 230 kV line was the fact that for much of the proposed 18-mile length, it would share a utilities corridor with the Olympic Pipeline, a 20-inch pipeline which transports petroleum products such as gasoline and jet fuel from refineries in Skagit and Watcom counties to SeaTac and Portland.

“I commend your decision to place a moratorium on this project, I wish Bellevue City Council would follow your lead,” Marsh said. “An explosion along this line would be a catastrophe.”

He said the 100-foot tall metal poles supporting the 115 kV and 230 kV lines would be lightning rods, endangering any residents who lived near the utilities corridor and particularly those who lived downhill.

Jens Nedrud, an engineer for PSE, said the poles, much like the wooden ones currently in place along the same corridor, would be grounded and would dissipate any electrical current.

He added that the metal poles would be sturdier and less prone to being blown over in inclement weather such as the windstorm which caused power outages on the Eastside and indeed in Newcastle.

Marsh asked the Newcastle council to consider a minimum of 50-feet of separation between the high voltage power lines and the underground pipeline. Nedrud said this distance was arbitrary and not only was well beyond the federal standards, but would require the purchase and destruction of more than 20 homes in Newcastle.

As for the council members, they wanted to shore up the city codes, but several needed much more information before they could say how they ultimately felt about the project.

Councilmember John Dulcich wanted to be sure the parties were operating in good faith.

“I’ve seen moratoriums used before as delay tactics,” he said. “I want to be clear I’m in favor of this moratorium for six months, not for six months, then six months, then six months again.”

Newcastle enacted its moratorium on electrical permits on Feb. 16. The moratorium will either end or need to be amended or renewed on Aug. 16.