For the last year, no one in Douglas and Piatt counties had any reason to be concerned about the proposed Ameren Three Rivers Transmission line. Both counties were comfortably north of the preferred line and alternate lines.
That all changed when some Intervening Moultrie County property owners proposed an alternate route to the north that would largely bypass Moultrie County and instead pass through Douglas and Piatt counties. This alternatre was subsequently endorsed by Ameren and now Douglas and Piatt County residents are scambling before an August 20 decision by the Illinois Commerce Commission on the route.
Alarmed by that proposal, a group called Defend Piatt and Douglas Counties has formed to keep the line out of the area.
The group says the massive towers would ruin the “beautiful sight lines of Illinois Amish country” and be miles off the original course that Ameren deemed best.
The Piatt-Douglas group says the proposal by the Moultrie County property owners “is longer, impacts more cropland and includes more 90-degree turns than Ameren’s alternate route.”
The route “also runs right through the Amish community, a registered Native American archaeological site (south of Atwood) and right next to the Tuscola airport,” the group states.
Ameren’s Illinois Rivers Transmission Project calls for a 345,000-volt line extending from Missouri to Indiana, running through the central Illinois communities of Quincy, Meredosia, Pawnee, Pana, Mount Zion and Kansas.
Full story here.
If you think you may be affected by the Ameren Three Rivers project and/or are interested in a free consultation, contact our eminent domain landowner attorneys at 1-888-318-3761 or visit us on the web at www.landownerattorneys.com.
