Word: linings
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...centralized energy grid is a plague to dairy farmers of west central Minnesota. As George Crocker of the General Assembly to Stop the Power Line (GASP) puts it, "Starting almost a decade ago, the industry started to get ideas about the western coal front. As soon as the plans materialized, the people started fighting a struggle, which has taken many forms for almost eight years...
...Cooperative Power Association began projecting costs in the early 70s, they claimed that the low-grade lignite mined in North Dakota would be cheap enough to make up for the $220 million more it would cost to build the plant in North Dakota and to construct the 800 kv line. Once that decision was made, the cost of lignite quadrupled...
...line is the largest so far in North America, but others in the planning will pass from Canada to South Dakota and will be even larger. Over such long distances, the power lines lose half of their electricity, which permeates the environment. Studies in Sweden and the USSR have detected decreased crop yields and incidences of nausea, dulled reflexes and sterility, among other side effects, in the people in the vicinity of the lines. United States studies point to similar health hazards. On the other hand, government-contracted research done by the Bonneville Power Association (a federal corporate agency...
However, at Minnesota statehearings on the health effects of high-voltage transmission lines, farmers from all across the state testified that nausea, abnormal rashes, migraine headaches and nosebleeds were endemic to all communities. "The government and the companies tell the people along the direct current line that the direct current line is the safest, and along the alternating current line that the alternating current line is the safest," says Crocker. Meanwhile, says Gloria Woida, a dairy farmer in GASP, "The companies came out and told us to put grounding wires on our tractors and equipment to prohibit shock and other...
...necessary, the people of Minnesota will stop the power lines with their bodies. GASP's Crocker explains, "All administrative and legal remedies have consistently been tried by the people resisting the lines--hearings, court cases-- we're always looking for new legal remedies. We have also engaged in civil disobedience, and many arrests have taken place for interfering with construction and trespassing. We take it to the jury to decide, and by and large, we have won in the courts. Of 42 misdemeanor charges, we have won 35. In 70 misdemeanor charges where the people were indicted by a grand...