bmfvet said:
F that man. I worked for over 20 years busting my ass with the dream to someday own my own ranch. Been seriously looking at places for 5 years and finally find the one. Close on it and 7 months later get a packet in the mail. Go to the meeting a week ago and the proposed route goes right through the middle of the ranch, right by the house, and through the only turkey roost on the ranch. I have every right to be pissed. This is to send power out to west Texas for data centers, not to send power to San Antonio or Austin. Why the eff can't they build NG power plants with a ready supply out there to power those plants?
Oh, trust me, I completely understand.
I'd probably be less than thrilled too if I were to be completely honest with myself. But I also understand that everything changes, all of the time and as long as we keep importing people in the state - the landscape is going to constantly change and evolve.
But the biggest gripe is the mentality that the hill country is some sacred cow that cannot be touched but the rest of the state is fair game because it isn't the hill country. Its the "sky is falling" fear mongering language used in the OP's post and rattler's posts and the entire "those city folks don't care !!!!" BS mentality. It is the "F that guy over there!" but the second that guy over there says "F you!" you get all kinds of butthurt mentality that is extremely pervasive on this board.
We also live in a state where oil, gas power - all are the lifeblood of our economy. Just about every single person here, there and everywhere else in the state benefits from the fact that it is our economic backbone. You can't sit around and enjoy the fruits of the economic tree while *****ing and moaning about the fact that the tree is growing somewhere inconvenient to you as well. And no damned part of the state is somehow exempt from the evolution we are living through, even the "sacred"hill country.
I'd rather see a powerline ROW or pipeline ROW built than see another section of land chopped up into the next master planned community or sold off in small blocks and high fenced like prison cells so somebody can sell day hunts at stupid high prices. Or a road go in where no road was before, etc. Which is what is happening to that sacred cow hill country every single day and has far, far, far more of a negative impact than anything else.
I suppose I also have a bit of a different perspective considering I grew up where industry was the lifeblood of the community and also had a high voltage transmission line run about 100 yards behind the house I grew up in. We used the ish out of that ROW for all things you can imagine too from hunting to doing stupid things in trucks as a teenager, etc. Never once did it pose some kind of problem and never once did anybody I know sit around and cry about the view. Different times and different types of people I suppose.
If the landowners can fight it and kill the project - hey, bravo and more power to them. If they only manage to push the project onto their neighbor's land and not theirs - kind of a dick move, but understandable.
