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WPL 1215-J Wisconsin Power C Light Company DATE October 20, 1987 SUBJECT NEW YORK POWER LINES PROJECT TO Lorne Hillier cc: Susan Tikalsky Brad O'Grosky Background New York State Public Service Commission Opinion No. 78-13, which approved the construction of two 765 kV overhead transmission lines in 1979, limited electric fields to 1-6 kV/m at right of way (ROW) edges and mandated a research program to determine possible health effects from electric and magnetic fields. Following this Opinion, a $5 million research program, the New York State Power Lines Project, was initiated in 1980. The Project, which had the guidance of an expert Scientific Advisory Panel, was funded by the State's utilities but performed by independent contractors reporting to the Department of Health. The research covered the categories of reproduction and development, cancer, cellular biology, and neurobiology and behavior. On July 1 , 1987, the Panel issued its report on the sixteen sponsored research projects (individual investigators research reports have not yet been published). The Panel determined that most of the research study results did not show biological effects and was satisfied that electric and magnetic fields are not associated with birth defects or genetic damage. However, one human epidemiological study did report positive results. The Savitz Study The Power Lines Project sponsored an epidemiological study (Savitz, et al) to evaluate the methodology used by Wertheimer and Leeper (1979) in the initial study that had found a positive association of increased childhood cancers with high current wiring configurations. Like Wertheimer, Savitz conducted his study in Denver. Savitz reported that the leukemia incidence rate for children living near high current carrying conductors was 2 per 10,000 persons per year as compared to 1 per 10,000 persons per year for the general population. According to Savitz, "There is no solid evidence that people should be worried, even if they live under a power line. The bottom line is that the evidence falls short of proving that electric or magnetic fields are health hazards. On the other hand, questions have been raised that haven't been answered. So from a public health perspective, there is a reason for concern."