POWERGRAMS

11 DODGING COTTONMOUTH WATER MOCCASINS, ALLIGATORS AND STUMPS hasn't yet made the inside of the elevator doors at Corporate Headquarters to promote Target Zero. But they're stark realities on one of the company's most challenging projects. A contract crew of 11 – with two Alabama Power line inspectors, Tommy Sellers and Steve Bell, both 30- year veterans – is replacing half-century-old anchors and guy wires holding up massive transmission towers across six rivers and creeks in the wiles of the swampy delta between the Mobile River and Interstate 65. The group is working on 26 towers they can reach only by boat with equipment floated in on pontoons, barges and amphibious vehicles that move on tank- like belted metal tracks. "We see alligators on the bank sunning themselves when the weather gets cooler, like it is now," Sellers says. "But they're as scared of us as we are of them. They see our boats coming and they take off." The snakes? Well, they're a different story. "Cottonmouths are the most dangerous things we've had to fool with." Water moccasins are aggressive and will attack, Sellers says, which prompts the crew to always be on the lookout. "When we first started back in May, the foreman was knee-deep in mud with waders on, and had a moccasin coming right toward him. He had to put a boot on the snake and drive him into the mud." Bigger obstacles than snakes or gators, Sellers says, are stumps. When the right- of-way for the transmission towers was cut in 1967, stumps were not removed, as is often the case in wetlands. "We've had tracks broken and sometimes slung off the vehicles after hitting one of those stumps you can't see," Sellers says. But the team has had no recordable injuries, Sellers says. "We stay focused on what we're doing. This work is redundant, so we talk about staying focused on what we're doing every day before we go out." Equipment problems in such a desolate area are perhaps the biggest challenge of the entire project, Sellers says, with no nearby shops where Alabama Power workers can drop in and have repairs made. Sellers recalls when one boat engine quit working and another boat engine went out, forcing him to tow one boat back. Then a track hoe used for digging broke down. "There's a mechanical problem all the time out here. The environment we work in is tough on equipment. Anytime you work in water you can count on working twice as long as on dry ground." Minus all that, the work replacing anchors and guy wires that hold 110-foot-tall towers isn't a stroll in the park, either. "Each guy wire must be replaced one at a time and in a specified order to maintain tower stability," says Jeff Tillery, line construction project supervisor. "Just moving around on the right of way takes a toll on the body due to heat and walking conditions; then add the presence of wildlife like snakes, insects and gators – this project demands full attention by everyone involved." Work started in May 2016 and finished in December on the towers, which carry 230,000-volt wires. "There is danger working over or near water, and most of these anchors are being installed in water," Tillery says. "The conditions of the right of way are unstable due to water rising and falling and using such heavy equipment. The material we handle is very heavy and gives the opportunity for strains and sprains." As dangerous as it was, the project was as much a logistical nightmare. A 40-ton crane with a "man basket" — used to hoist workers to the top of the towers to attach the guy wires — was floated on pontoons to the towers. An excavator on the pontoon "pull tested" the new anchors to make sure they could withstand 40,000 pounds of pressure. Materials and other equipment were floated by barge as close to the tower sites as possible, then the rest of the way by an amphibious tractor. Once a tower on one side of a river was finished, all of the heavy material, tools and equipment was loaded by barge and floated across to the other side – for all six river and creek crossings. "A lot of coordination had to happen to pull this project off," Tillery says. Trio hoists wires. Snakes loom in the swamp.

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