I've never noticed anything particular. We've now been here almost eight years.
Yes, I have some fish that don't look like the ones from the local streams and lakes, but I like to think of that as due to the pond management lessons I've learned on Pond Boss. My chickens live almost under the power lines. They seem as normal as any chickens I've known in my lifetime. Their eggs don't glow.
There are some things that are a little disconderting. My flyreel sparks inside when I'm using it directly under the powerlines. My flyrod and my 16-foot jigging rod, both carbon, hum when I'm under the power lines -- and I can draw arcs from the rod eyes to my fingers under certain conditions. We learned a long time ago not to walk in the grass in that area with sandles or flip-flops -- the grass will really give your feet a tickle.
I've learned not to lean on a truck or other vehicle parked under the power lines. If you lean into an open truck window, it will really thrill your elbows. I've learned to grab the streering wheel of my tractor to pull myself onto it -- not grabbing the metal handles on the metal fenders.
Our house, which is about 150 feet away from the power line, has a standing-seem steel roof. Under certain conditions, like during a very wet snow on the ground, it sounds like a bulldozer idling far off in the distance when we are in our living room or front bedroom. I can go outside at night, walk onto the dock with a 4-foot fluourscent lamp, and it will glow.
But, other than that, nothing unusual. I was as crazy before we moved here as I am today. I have some really giant earthworms that live in the compost piles under the power lines, but they also live in the compost piles several hundred feet away from the powerlines. My garden seems to grow normally. If anything, I grow the best horseradish under the power lines that I've grown anywhere.
They are presently rebuilding this line to increase it capacity by 50%. The towers will be about 30 feet higher. We'll see what happens.
In general, I've not seen any real downsides. I have about five acres under this powerline. I keep most of it brush hogged, which I usually do only once a year, in mid-August. What I can't maintain because of terrain, is kept cleared by the power company. They know not to spray anywhere near any of the water on our property. The right-of-way passes through dense hardwood forest on both sides. It is an incredible nursery in the spring and summer. Just about every furry, feathered, and amphibious critter that lives in the Appalacian mountains seems to want to raise their babies here, where they have open area, water, and lots of cover near by. (I keep lots of brush piles on the edges for the critters to hide in.)
