Area landowners have until 3 p.m. Friday to apply to intervene in state Public Utility Commission hearings regarding 345-kilovolt electric transmission lines proposed to pass through Lampasas County.

Oncor Electric Delivery has submitted a preferred route and alternative paths for the Brown-to- Newton and Newton-to-Killeen segments of an electric transmission line project that likely will pass through Lampasas County.

The transmission lines are intended to carry wind-generated power -- needed to meet increasing state quotas for energy not derived from fossil fuels -- from Brown County to the Newton Switching Station near the west end of Kempner. The Newton location is north of U.S. Highway 190 and south of the railroad tracks that parallel Farm-to-Market Road 2313.

Final routes -- which will be set by the Public Utility Commission -- have not been determined, Oncor spokeswoman Catherine Cuellar said.

Some landowners, however, believe the Brown-to-Newton and Newton-to-Killeen preferred routes will harm wildlife and decrease property values.

"The [transmission] towers are just too big and too bad for the rural areas," said Diana Fisch, who owns property on County Road 2001 near proposed locations for transmission lines.

The "lattice" structures Oncor plans to use are between 120 and 150 feet tall and require easements as wide as 160 feet.

Shorter "monopoles" or buried cables are not as noticeable as lattice towers and do not need easements as large, Mrs. Fisch said.

Monopoles and buried cables cost substantially more to install than lattice towers, Oncor officials said during a Lampasas public meeting in August.

Along with the type of materials proposed, lines' possible proximity to aquatic habitats also concern some property owners.

A portion of Oncor's preferred route is proposed to follow FM 3170 in Lampasas County and CR 223 in Burnet County. CR 223 -- which the Burnet County Commissioners Court has designated a "county scenic river road" -- is near the Lampasas River, said Lynn Eyberg, president of Save the Lampasas River Inc.

"Our whole goal was to keep this away from the river," Mrs. Eyberg said.

Although she said Oncor did try to move lines away from bald eagle nesting areas, Mrs. Eyberg added that the company's preferred route does not incorporate existing transmission lines near the Parrie Haynes Ranch. The route also passes by more homes and is longer and less direct, Mrs. Eyberg said, than four or five other paths Oncor could have chosen.

"It doesn't make sense to us," she said. "...They'll either be crossing expensive bottom land or tearing up trees like crazy."

Oncor officials submitted the company's preferred route after attempting to balance all the concerns raised in landowner questionnaires, during public forums, and in discussions with contractors and environmental consultants, Ms. Cuellar said.

Once transmission line routes are finalized, Oncor officials will work with affected landowners to place lines in the least disruptive manner, the spokeswoman added. To minimize the amount of line crossing their properties, for example, landowners can ask for lines to cross down the middle of their land, she said. Some landowners, however, may prefer that transmission lines follow a longer route that skirts the edges of their properties.

"We're trying to be considerate of all the affected landowners, even when the routes are set," Ms. Cuellar said.

Intervenors may submit written testimony, which will be considered during PUC hearings. Those hearings -- open to the public -- will be conducted in Austin, likely in January.

Members of Save the Lampasas River, which formed earlier this year to oppose electric lines near the river, have printed T-shirts and hope to take 200 people to the upcoming PUC hearing, Mrs. Eyberg said.

"We hope to be very visible," she said. "We won't be jumping up and down and yelling, but they will know we're there."

Intervenor applicants must send a completed form and 10 copies to the PUC. Intervention applications and other information are available at www.oncor.com/electricity/ transmission/projects/public.aspx. In addition, a brochure about transmission line cases can be obtained by phoning Manuel Flores at (214) 486-7341 or by visiting www.puc.state. tx.us.

Maps of the preferred and alternate routes for the Brown-to-Newton section of Oncor's project are available to the public at the Brown County Courthouse, the Lampasas County Chamber of Commerce and the Lometa, Kempner, Goldthwaite and San Saba city halls.

Newton-to-Killeen maps are available at the Copperas Cove Public Library and at the Kempner, Killeen and Harker Heights city halls.

Landowners who would have been affected by potential routes discussed during the summer may not have lines near their property if the PUC accepts the more recently submitted routes, Ms. Cuellar said.

"If people have not seen the maps since the public hearing, they may want to go look," she said.

The Oncor transmission project is not connected to efforts by the Lower Colorado River Authority Transmission Services Corp. to build 345-kV lines in Lampasas, Burnet, San Saba, Llano and Gillespie counties, Ms. Cuellar said.

An insert in today's newspaper describes the preferred and alternate routes LCRA TSC recently filed for its project.