Eagles Caught In Power Struggle

By YVETTE C. HAMMETT The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 10, 2007

Every day about lunchtime and again at dusk, they hear it - the high-pitched screech of the bald eagles as they prepare to feed their young.

Walking through their neighbors' wooded land, Susan and Tom Watson and their daughter, Kelly, find fish skeletons lying near the base of a gigantic slash pine, tucked amid the lowlands that shelter ferns and poison ivy. The tree for at least 40 years has held a massive bald eagle's nest.

They often photograph the parents and their two offspring, watching them as they learn to fly and fish in a nearby lake.

They worry about the future of these majestic birds.

The massive slash pine lies on property owned by Tampa Electric Co. It also lies in one of several paths being considered for a 230,000-volt transmission line.

"Did you ever see 'An Inconvenient Truth?'" asks college senior Kelly Watson, referring to former Vice President Al Gore's documentary on global warming.

"Every day, you hear about global warming in the news and all the environmental issues and then they want to come in here and tear all this down," she said, hiking in the woods near the eagle's nest.

"The nest is directly in the path of where the power lines would go," said Kelly's mother, retired teacher Susan Watson, whose home is tucked in an oak hammock within view of the nest.

"This is special land," she said. "It's the last little spot that is untouched around here. Why do they need to put it here?"

TECO hasn't decided on which route it will use for the high voltage lines. But that hasn't quelled the Watsons' anxiety.

TECO recently contracted with a helicopter pilot to fly over the woods to get a global positioning system reading on the eagle's nest.

"It came low enough and was loud enough that it scared my son," Susan Watson said. She and her neighbors didn't see the eagles for several days after the helicopter flew over.

TECO has outlined several proposed routes for the transmission line, which would connect the Willow Oak substation at State Road 60 and Turner Road in Polk County with its Wheeler Road substation in Seffner and a new Davis substation in Temple Terrace.

TECO spokesman Rick Morera said the company will select a route for the power lines in June. The recommendation then goes to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and eventually to the governor and Cabinet for a final decision. No specific timetable has been outlined for when TECO might receive approval, Morera said.

Once the utility chooses one of three routes between Polk County and the Wheeler Road substation, it must choose one of two routes to continue the lines up to Temple Terrace. Route B is the one that would run in the path of the eagle's nest.

"The eagles had two offspring this year and two last year," said Alice Gabriel, whose land abuts the TECO property just north of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard off Old Hillsborough Avenue.

"Obviously, the eagles will be impacted if the line goes through here," Gabriel said. "It's rare for eagles to be able to support two young these days.

"There are alternate routes, some in more industrial areas that wouldn't have such an impact," Gabriel said. "We're all hoping they will choose one of those routes over this one."

Morera, who said the helicopter pilot did not observe any eagles during the recent flyover, said TECO "will use a tremendous amount of due diligence on the front end" of any project to identify issues like this.

"TECO was the first utility in Florida to set up an avian protection plan," Morera said. That program focuses on ospreys that tend to nest on power poles. TECO provides alternative nest poles for the birds in some areas.

He said the eagle's nest is not an issue TECO will take lightly.

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at yhammett@tampatrib.com or (813) 657-4532.