Electricity for the future
I understand there is some opposition to the high-voltage electric line proposed for construction in this area of South Dakota and in Minnesota.
Are we forward-thinking people? We plant trees for the next generation. We also must build electric power lines for the next generation.
Last November when I woke up to the first day of a power outage due to the big ice storm, I really began to think about the value of electricity to man. By the fourth day, the concept was pretty well gelled in my mind. The time and labor saved to us through electricity are completely taken for granted because it is provided to us so consistently. People living in some other countries don't have this. The power all goes to the factories during the daytime hours. They get a few hours of electricity in the evening.
Imagine 20 or 30 years down the road. The demand for electricity grows continually. If there are no new power plants or power lines built now, will people in the Twin Cities and points east at that time be willing to live with intermittent electrical supply?
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Are you willing to only run your air conditioning or your heat a few hours per day? Are you willing to hang all of your laundry on the clothesline to dry? Are you willing to cut and split wood to heat your home?
A consistent and dependable supply of electricity to our homes and businesses has meant we don't have to do these ancestral chores anymore, albeit some may do them by personal choice -- which is fine. I want to give my children and grandchildren this same opportunity so that they can spend their time in useful pursuits rather than the drudgery of day-to-day living which their great-grandparents faced.
Mary Nosbush
Gary, S.D.
