Citizen activism works

There can be no doubt now that citizen activism works. The decision by PPL Electric Utilities to select Route B as the route for a new, high-voltage transmission line is indeed a watershed event. When a number of concerned Milford, Westfall and Shohola residents banded together to try to prevent the selection of Route A as the preferred route, stopping PPL seemed almost impossible. But today, it’s clear that the actions of citizens across Pike County - calling, writing and e-mailing PPL, contacting our federal, state and county lawmakers, placing signs on lawns across the region - made a difference, a big difference. I want to thank all of you, across the region, for supporting the NoRouteA.com movement. There is no doubt that our actions have helped guide PPL to choosing the route with the least net environmental impact. Your efforts have demonstrated that in our country, citizen activism matters. Finally, I would urge all of us to seriously renew our efforts at energy conservation and alternative sources of energy. Reducing the need for new power lines can only be accomplished if we reduce power consumption and give new consideration to ideas like distributed generation, which would place generating sources nearer to the demand for power. That would not only alleviate the need for new long-distance lines, but also save energy lost during the transmission process. Geoffrey Peckham Westfall