THE UNDERGROUND INSTALLATION OF UTILITIES 375 



which is the portion of FHA loans for improvements. Maybe this 

 can be done for putting lines underground, to join consumers to- 

 gether in some kind of a district to get long-term and low-cost fi- 

 nancing. The utility can cooperate by putting the payments on 

 the bill and paying the funds to the Federal Government on the 

 repayment program. 



I am addressing myself to underground distribution lines within 

 the communities. Research is still needed here to bring those costs 

 down. We are down to l*/^ to 1, as Mr. Lischer pointed out here. 

 Well, the object is to get it down to even cost and then this will make 

 it practical to go underground with all installations. 



Certainly, it behooves the utility to take an aggressive approach to 

 solving this problem and with this awareness comes the need to dig 

 into the problem and really get at it. 



I think conferences such as this help make the utility conscious of 

 it, aware of it, and I think all of us and all the utility people who 

 may be present here, will take the message home that we have a job 

 to do and we have to translate this program into action in our 

 communities. 



In regard to transmission, it behooves us to look at this problem, as 

 Mr. Bennett pointed out. We need to look at the practical side at 

 possibilities of rerouting lines, bringing power into our cities on 

 power avenues or energy rights-of-way which will conflict less with 

 the scenic values of the community or the area. 



Here again, turning to Professor Dyckman, this is an area per- 

 haps for tax incentives like the present construction tax credit. This 

 is applied to utilities and I believe is some 3 percent. This may be 

 an incentive for rerouting or for going underground in critical areas, 

 recognizing as brought out here, that undergrounding has a prohibi- 

 tive cost. 



Again, there is a lot to be done in improving the appearance of the 

 towers, making them more attractive and making them fit into the 

 landscape more. We can do a lot on this. 



In some areas committees have been organized to take care of this. 

 We have a 24-utility committee out in the West covering five States 

 Arizona, California, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico called the 

 Utility Appearance Committee, and we are working aggressively to 

 resolve some of these problems. 



Research is an answer. I think maybe it calls for some Federal 

 grants joined by the utilities, the manufacturers, and the Federal 



