New, taller power lines revive old safety fears

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New, taller power lines revive old safety fears
Monday September 16, 2013, 11:13 PM
BY  STEPHANIE AKIN
STAFF WRITER
The Record

The sequoia-size utility poles that appeared in two northern Bergen County communities this summer were meant to address modern-day problems: increasingly unpredictable weather and ever-growing power demands.

But the sight of 65-foot-tall pillars along some of the region’s wealthiest suburban streets raised a question first asked more than 30 years ago: Could the higher-voltage power lines strung between the poles increase the risk of cancer for nearby residents?

Power lines were once such a bugaboo that their arrival could cause measurable dips in residential property sales, and communities across the Northeast commissioned independent assessments of the power lines hanging over their schools.

Health fears were raised again in August at public forums in Glen Rock and Ridgewood. This time, those fears were summarily dismissed by utility companies with arguments they had made countless times before. Residents are safe, an electrical engineer said at the Aug. 30 forum in Glen Rock. After decades of research, scientists have found no conclusive links between cancer and power lines. Even epidemiologists who once warned of a danger now say the most definitive statement they can make is that the magnetic fields surrounding power lines are a possible cause of cancer, but that the influence — if any — is minor compared with all the other potential hazards people come across every day.

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