Town hall planned for controversial pole line expansion
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Signs like this one at Rock Glen Road and Sugarloaf Drive at the site of the proposed pole line, seen on August 26, 2025, have been popping up across the Conyngham Valley.
HAZLETON – A controversial project to expand a utility line in the Conyngham Valley will be the topic of a town hall meeting next month in Hazleton.
Senator Lynda Schlegel Culver (R-Columbia) and Reps. Dane Watro (R-Schuylkill/Luzerne) and Jamie Walsh (R-Luzerne) will hold the meeting on Sept. 16 at 5:30pm.
It will be held at the Hazleton Area High School.
Schlegel Culver’s office says the townhall will provide residents and property owners the opportunity to learn more about the project, understand their rights and availalbe resources, and engage with their elected officials.
The Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate will also share information and hear concerns from the community.
“This meeting is about making sure residents have a voice and access to clear information,” Culver said. “Our goal is to provide answers and ensure local property owners are fully supported as this process moves forward.”
For more information, contact Senator Culver’s Bloomsburg Office at 570-784-3464 or her Luzerne County Office at 570-387-4267.
PPL Electric Utilities is planning to construct a new 500 kV utility line beginning next year. It largely follows the route of an existing pole line, resembling traditional telephone poles, that runs from a substation in the Humboldt Industrial Park to another substation just east of Berwick. PPL says that line is a 69 kV transmission line.
The new lines would be much larger, resembling the pole line that already cuts through the valley. That line crosses the Tomhicken Road about 1/3 of a mile east of the proposed line and the Rock Glen Road just under a mile east.
Alliance To Stop The Line, a community effort to oppose the project, says the towers would be 240 feet tall. They claim the new line would devalue property in the region and would not benefit the valley.
“There are alternative routes for PPL’s proposed project that satisfy the energy need while preserving the land and rights of our community,” the group says.
PPL claims the route is the “best possible solution to meet the demand for electricity while having the least possible impact on the natural environment and surrounding communities.”
“After a thorough evaluation, the proposed route, which uses an already existing transmission corridor, was determined to be the most viable route that would cause the least impact to the environment and community while still delivering reliable power to all customers,” PPL says.
The utility claims “the new facilities and transmission lines are needed to provide additional power to the area to support growth in the region.”
PPL wants to expand the right-of-way of the existing pole line by 100 feet, to a total of 200-feet-wide, and says they will invoke eminent domain to get it if they have to, according to a project fact sheet.
While eminent domain is generally intended for public projects undertaken by the government and prohibited for private business, Pennsylvania law includes an explicit exception for public utilities.
The pole line will cross through Nescopeck, Black Creek, Sugarloaf, and Hazle townships and is expected to be built by 2027, if approved. It must still be approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
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