376 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



Government. We need to speed up this research and solve this 

 problem of how to put these extra high-voltage lines underground.* 



Questions and Discussion 



Mr. CISLER. I have been in energy and the power industry for 

 nearly 43 years, and I have seen great changes occurring during that 

 time, not only in research, but in design and operations. There are 

 under way in this country tremendous developments in the field of 

 energy and power. I wonder if we realize that we have in the 

 United States as much electric power as the next five nations in the 

 world, including the Soviet Union. And more and more of our total 

 energy requirements will be in the form of electric energy. 



Therefore, we must move tremendous amounts of energy from 

 one area, from the source of generation, to the many, many points 

 of utilization. This can only be done by the use of high-voltage 

 transmission lines from the generating stations to the substations and 

 from there to the low-voltage service connections. There is a very 

 close relationship between private industry and the public operating 

 organizations in connection with research and development. The 

 Edison Electric Institute is concerned, it has been for many years, 

 with the improvement of overhead and underground installations. 

 There is a handbook which has been in existence since 1957 in con- 

 nection with underground transmission work. 



There has been formed recently an advisory group between the 

 public and the private industry in connection with research and 

 development, and I believe that there is much that can be done in 

 improving the appearance of both overhead and underground 

 installations. 



Mr. BENNETT. Public utilities have the power of eminent domain. 

 If this weren't Federal property, they could walk through it and 

 condemn it as their own. That is as it should be, because the 

 public decided in the public interest, utilities should have the right 

 to extend the lines for the over-all good but that was in a society 

 that wasn't as complex as it is today. We see the difficulty in a 

 situation in California today. Utilities have the right to v/alk down 

 the scenic routes and over agricultural land, and there arises the 

 question whether there should be some limit on this. 



*Mr. McMullin has contributed a further statement, which appears later in 

 this chapter. 



