POWERGRAMS

7 CREWS BLAZE 17-MILE TRAIL THROUGH PERILOUS WETLANDS Energy regulations are not written in ink on paper in a climate- controlled office. They're dug into the ground with steel in dense forests and swamps. Alabama Power's Transmission teams live this truth. They've been digging deep for two years, blazing 17 new miles of power lines from the North Brewton Transmission Station to Flomaton on the Florida border. They've worked at double speed to meet a deadline for the Environmental Protection Agency's new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). The deadline will be met. "The crews have done an exceptional job in a short time frame," said Area Transmission Maintenance Manager Donovan Cox. "They used a lot of ingenuity and persistence through adverse conditions to meet and exceed what was needed." The North Brewton-Alligator Swamp 230-kV line project is a joint partnership with Gulf Power, which was responsible for 37 miles of its own lines in Florida. The new transmission lines will keep electricity flowing reliably to customers in spite of the stricter regulations. In Alabama, work began in January 2013 and is scheduled for completion in December. A project that would normally take four to five years will be finished in two. To accomplish this goal, four construction crews were used. It was demanding work. "From mid-June to August, we worked 11 days straight and three days off," said Crew Foreman Pat Samya. "Probably 70 percent of this job was in swampy terrain," said Crew Foreman Steven "Skippy" Morsch. Additionally, outside contractors helped level easement roads, fill in rocks, and lay tracks and mats so crawler and mantis cranes could move freely. They put in silk fencing to prevent water runoff. "It was teamwork at its finest," said Cox. The first step in the project was making sure Alabama Power had the right to use the land. Corporate Real Estate employees negotiated with more than 50 landowners. "On our side, we had to buy all new right-of-way," said Transmission Project Management and Customer Service Manager Gary Gorham. A narrow strip of heavily forested countryside was cleared to make way for massive H-frame towers ranging from 90 to 130 feet tall. Adjacent "danger trees" were cut to prevent damage from storms. "It was a big, time-consuming challenge," said Samya. Environmental Affairs employees secured permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to work in environmentally sensitive wetlands, which had to be left undisturbed or reclaimed after power lines were installed. An interesting challenge was protecting the gopher tortoise, which is listed as a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Hundreds of the turtles live on the Brewton to Flomaton right-of-way. The crews were responsible for relocating their burrows or building new ones, which shelter other species as well. "We have someone working almost full time with these tortoises and making sure we protect them," said Gulf Power Transmission Project Manager Jill Bartling. "We actually created a pretty good habitat for them," said Samya. Despite multiple crews working long hours on different jobs in close proximity, safety was always the top priority. "We had one incident," said Samya, referring to a worker stung by a wasp. "Otherwise, not a blemish as far as safety goes." Why is the extra power needed? It all comes down to the scrubber. A scrubber removes toxins from coal-fired generating units. The one at Gulf Power's Plant Crist in Pensacola, Fla., clears from the air 95 percent of sulfur dioxide and 80 percent of oxidized mercury emissions. If the Crist scrubber were taken out of commission for repairs, its units could still operate today. As of April 2015, however, operating without the scrubber will violate EPA standards. To avoid severe financial penalties, Crist employees would have to shut down all of the units, which could cause overloads and brownouts for Gulf customers. The power to operate the scrubbers would have to come from elsewhere, such as Plant Barry. So new transmission lines were needed to handle the increased flow. "It's the best solution to multiple contingencies," said Gorham. Thanks to a lot of hard work – and teamwork – customers can be confident that a Washington regulator's pen will not spell electric shortages. "The new lines will mean greater reliability and peace of mind for Alabama Power customers," said Gorham. "Our crews can be proud they made it happen." By John Herr Swamp People ENVIRONMENT Alabama Power Transmission teams worked double speed to safely meet deadline. Photos by Dan Anderson Crew raises power pole for 230-kV line.

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