To the editor:

We are many and they are one; we are Americans and we have a choice! We need to stand up and say “no” to Duke Energy’s proposal to run 45 miles of 230 kilovolt transmission lines through our beautiful land.

I don’t want Duke Energy putting a proven health hazard in my front yard and neither do my neighbors. That does not mean I want it to go through the park or yard of someone a mile away either! There are alternatives and they don’t consist only of which route will be chosen. If you are not one of the 3,700 who got letters (because they own property or a home within 500 feet of Duke’s proposed route) don’t kid yourself, you will still be affected. The necessary towers will be between 49 and 180 feet tall. 180 feet is taller than any tree in all the affected counties. I live near Hendersonville. That’s taller than our beautiful gold dome on the Historic Courthouse. Why do they put the lines so high? To minimize the damage to life below the lines.

We live in a beautiful, amazing place that right now is not dangerous to our health or that of our children. There are lots of studies that show conclusively that life within so many feet of high voltage transmission lines causes childhood leukemia. That’s just the children, and only the beginning of the list of what they damage.

What about renewable energy, Duke? What alternatives can be found right there in Asheville where the energy is needed?

People, if we allow Duke Energy to distain our life choices, what will we allow them to do next? Stand up and be counted. Help us stop this project. We are almost a million people in these five counties: Henderson, Polk, Transylvania in North Carolina and Spartanburg and Greenville in South Carolina. Let our voices be heard! We are many and Duke is one, Let Our American Voices Be Heard. Help us make it known how much we do not want this project to be completed. Please go to this site (www.change.org/p/stop-the-duke-energy-western-carolinas-moderization-project) and sign the petition, or call Duke Energy (800-820-9359), or comment by email WCModernization@duke-energy.com. Here is the information site: www.duke-energy.com/western-carolina-modernization. SHARE this with everyone you know.

Don and Phoebe Blackwell
East Flat Rock, N.C.