Huntley likely to lose ComEd fight

The prospects for Huntley winning its fight to keep ComEd from building transmission lines on Kreutzer Road seem increasingly grim.

A judge ruled last week in ComEd's favor.

The ruling comes on top of an earlier recommendation by the staff of the Illinois Commerce Commission to approve ComEd's proposed route.

The ruling won't be final until the five-member Illinois Commerce Commission makes a decision later this summer.

But Huntley and others who opposed ComEd's proposed route are fast running out of options.

The parties have until the beginning of next month to lodge objections to the judge's ruling.

And once the commerce commission takes up the case, the parties can petition the panel to allow oral arguments.

But the positions of all the sides have been thoroughly laid out and well-established during the yearlong approval process.

I fail to see how additional testimony and briefs can shed any new light on why one route is preferable to another.

The decision of the commerce commission isn't a forgone conclusion.

As a spokeswoman pointed out this week, the panel can modify the proposed route.

But what options does it have? To my knowledge, the only viable alternative that has been presented is the Galligan-Freeman route through Gilberts.

As Gilberts and Neumann Homes have argued, the route would place transmission lines near a large residential development that has already been approved.

Similarly, one of Huntley's chief arguments against the Kreutzer route has been that the land along the road is slated for future residential development.

But while Gilberts has already approved plans for the sprawling Conservancy subdivision at Galligan and Freeman, the land along Kreutzer Road is still only farmland largely owned by the Kreutzer family that has no imminent plans for development.

A stronger argument is that Kreutzer Road will eventually be part of an east-west thoroughfare stretching from Carpentersville to Huntley.

But as compelling as regional transportation needs are, this argument suffers from the same weakness as the residential argument.

Like any new homes on Kreutzer Road, the widening and extension of Kreutzer as part of a regional corridor has an indefinite time frame and could be years away.

Meanwhile, homes are on the way, if not sooner then later, and ComEd needs to expand its grid to serve the coming growth and improve reliability for existing customers.

Given these concerns, it is difficult to see how the commerce commission could rule in Huntley's favor.

Of course, Huntley can appeal the panel's decision in court.

Given how costly the transmission lines could be for the village when it widens Kreutzer and seeks residential development for the area, this would be understandable.

But given the facts and what would be three unfavorable rulings, it would seem to be a losing battle.