Given that the North East 400kv electricity lines will be the first of 3 major applications for overhead power lines, it is crucial that all those who support the undergrounding of high voltage power lines throughout the country work together as a unified force to ensure that government policy delivers undergrounding of cables.
This was stated by Independent MEP Marian Harkin at a hugely attended meeting in Trim, Co. Meath organised by North East Pylon Pressure (NEPP) on Tuesday, November 6th.
“I did not come to this decision to support undergrounding lightly. In particular I looked at the health impact. I used the conclusions of the European Scientific Committee on emerging and newly identified health risks to inform my decision. In 2007 the findings of this scientific committee state ‘the previous conclusions that ELF magnetic fields are possibly carcinogenic chiefly based on occurrence of childhood leukaemia is still valid and their 2009 findings confirm this’. In 2009 they also state that ‘new epidemiological studies indicate a possible increase in Alzheimer’s disease arising from exposure to ELF magnetic fields’. Therefore it is clear that the imposition of overhead 400kv power lines is potentially damaging to the health of citizens and the only remedy for this is to underground them”.
“I strongly advocate the precautionary principle which, taken with the economic case made so effectively by NEPP, makes undergrounding all 400kv lines essential. Present EirGrid plans envisaged hugely intrusive pylons traversing counties of the North West, Midlands and the North East and I will be making this an election issue which has an EU context in regard to health impacts on citizens”, she said.
“It is also worth noting that very many EU countries apply more stringent restrictions on public exposure to ELF than Ireland does and countries like Denmark for example now propose to underground all new high voltage electricity cables".
Marian Harkin encouraged all of those with concerns about the construction of overhead high voltage lines to pool resources and back the opposition in the proposed overhead cross border installation. “This will be the first planning application to be decided and it will be the template for the rest and, as such, the battle to underground cables will be won or lost in the North East”, Marian Harkin concluded.
