Do Puget Sound Energy (PSE) customers want to be stuck paying hundreds of millions of dollars for “Energize Eastside” over the next 40 years when it has a stated usable life of only about 15 years?

According to PSE, by 2030 we will be right back in the same predicament. If your neighborhood is spared this time, next time you may not be so fortunate.

The Eastside needs alternatives with longevity. We are an environmentally-conscious region as well as a high-tech region. Our energy solutions must embrace and reflect those values and needs. The character of our cities and neighborhoods do not deserve to be desecrated by outdated 130-year old pole-and-wire technology — short-term solutions that residents and businesses will pay for over the next four decades.

PSE’s proposed “Energize Eastside” project may be the most expedient solution to the growing Eastside’s electricity needs, but it’s not the best solution. The truth is, huge 130-foot-tall electricity transmission lines will damage our beautiful city. “Energize Eastside” are not typical neighborhood distribution lines. “Energize Eastside” are high-voltage 230kV long-haul transmission lines. Overhead high-voltage transmission lines pose safety and health risks, as well as quantifiably increase pollution.

We have not exhausted all possible alternatives. We can do better. We must demand better.

Russell Borgmann, Bellevue