PORTSMOUTH — The R.I. Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) traveled to Town Hall recently to gather public comment on a major utility upgrade being proposed by Rhode Island Energy (RIE), but left with only a few notes to take home.

Ahead of its own upcoming meeting on the project as well as a Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) hearing (see related story), the EFSB’s local hearing on Oct. 23 was to gather comments on RIE’s proposal to rebuild a 7.9-mile section of the L14 and M13 115-kilovolt mainline transmission lines extending south from Canonicus Street in Tiverton to the existing Dexter Substation located off Freeborn Street in Portsmouth. (Narraganset Election Co. is formally listed as the applicant, but the company is now known as RIE.)

The project involves replacing the aging wooden utility poles with steel structures, as well as their conductors. Most of the existing infrastructure and cables have been in place since 1960 and have deteriorated due to exposure to the elements, according to RIE. There will be no increase in voltage, according to RIE.

There were two people who testified on behalf of RIE at the Oct. 23 meeting: Thomas Arias, an RIE project manager, and Jamie Durand, a senior environmental project manager for POWER Engineers in Foxborough, Mass. Both were questioned by RIE’s counsel, George Watson, who said the project “falls into the existing infrastructure permitting process.”

According to Arias, 193 structures in all will be replaced. RIE looked at alternative methods such as going underground or using a parallel circuit, but the proposed rebuild was chosen as the best option, he said. The work will involved removing negation, installing soil erosion and sediment controls on the right of way (ROW), pouring foundations and replacing structures, conductors, and optimal ground wire.

RIE hopes to start construction in Tiverton by the end of this year and finish up in the “second quarter of 2025,” Arias said. The planning and engineering phases have been completed, but permitting has not, he said. The company has reached out to the community through an abutters’ meeting in January in Portsmouth and Tiverton, and outreach will continue via community open houses, e-mails, advertising, an interactive website, fact sheets, door hangers and more, he said.

Duran testified that the replacement project involves 3.4 miles in Tiverton, and 4.5 miles in Portsmouth, including a crossing of the Montaup Country Club. Under the proposal, the 24 existing transmission structures that cross Montaup would be replaced with 12 double-circuit steel pole structures.

The existing transmission structures range from 46 to 103 feet high and consist of wood monopoles and steel H-frame structures with steel lattice towers near the Sakonnet River crossing. The height of the steel lattice towers near the river crossing range from 81 to 143 feet and the height of the steel lattice structure at the Canonicus Switching Station in Tiverton is 101 feet.

Bigger towers

The heights of the replacement structures will range from 42 to 176 feet, with the average of about 75 feet. The tallest proposed transmission structures will be those located at the Sakonnet River crossing and to the east of Paul James Drive in Tiverton, with heights of

172 and 176 above-ground, respectively.

“We need to go higher instead of horizontally,” said Durand, adding the new structures need to be taller in order to meet current codes.

The project includes reconfiguring the existing 551-foot aerial span across the Sakonnet River from Tiverton to Portsmouth by rebuilding the existing overhead crossing of the river with a proposed distance of approximately 1,245 feet.

Duran also testified about environmental impacts, saying neither soil-source aquifers or drinking water supplies will be involved in the project.  Some wetlands are involved — the lines cross Portsmouth’s Barker Brook and Tiverton’s Sin and Flesh Brook, for example — but the impacts from constructing matting will be mostly temporary, Duran said. On Nov. 12 the CRMC will hear RIE’s mitigation plan for a potential salt marsh restoration site.

The ROW for the transmission lines is about 100 feet wide, with a cleared width ranging between 75 and 100 feet. “There will be some removal of trees and there already have been some trees removed on their right-of-way,” Durand said, adding there are no plans to disturb any active osprey nests, and that any areas disturbed within the ROW will be restored to the existing or an improved condition. “We won’t have any wholesale tree-clearing.”

Construction noise is expected to be intermittent, traffic impacts will be temporar, and there will be no long-term impacts to residential, commercial, or industrial land uses, he said. In addition, RIE has a plan to protect any historical or archaeological resources, and is working closely with the R.I. Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission as well as local Native American tribes on mitigation efforts, he said.

One resident comments

Only one resident offered public comment at the sparsely attended meeting: David Gleason, of Massasoit Avenue. Gleason is a member of the Town Council, but said he was speaking only as an abutter to the project. 

Gleason said where he lives, the foliage and trees help buffer out highway noise, and some of the vegetation was already lost due to Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.

“They don’t grow back too quickly,” said Gleason, noting he hoped that RIE will do whatever it can to protect as many trees as possible.

He also expressed concerns about local wildlife and how the new structures will impact local birds especially.

“The existing wooden pole structures are kind of flat-topped, and they do promote the ability of local wildlife to perch atop those poles,” said Gleason, who testified he’s seen red-tailed hawks, ospreys, and turkey vultures in the area — even a bald eagle perched atop a pole at Montaup. He said he hopes birds will be able to perch atop the new metal structures as well.

Finally, Gleason questioned previous testimony made in September at Town Hall by Jacques Afonso, RIE’s manager of external affairs and liaison for Town of Portsmouth. During that meeting, Afonso said customers’ bills should not increase specifically because of the project, despite its $60 million price tag. Gleason said he found that hard to believe.

Watson, RIE’s attorney, said Afonso may have misspoke. 

“These costs are passed on to the customers,” Watson said. “They will be, but they’re spread out among a lot of people.”