Should Huntley continue fighting ComEd?

Bad things come in threes.

Huntley has lost three rounds in its fight to stop ComEd from building transmission lines along Kreutzer Road.

The last round was decided last week, when a state panel backed ComEd's plans to place new lines through Huntley.

With the unanimous vote of the Illinois Commerce Commission, hope seems to have all but dried up for Huntley and the property owners who live along Kreutzer Road.

There are a few things working in their favor, however: time, the economy and the legal system.

ComEd said last week it won't start building the transmission lines until early 2011.

That gives Huntley and others opposed to ComEd's plans more than two years to continue fighting the Kreutzer route.

The economy could play a role in delaying the construction of new homes in the area, thereby slowing growth in ComEd's customer base.

I don't know if ComEd will push back its plans if few new customers come online in the next two years, but it stands to reason that the utility might hesitate to invest $40 million in new infrastructure if the demand is not there to support it.

Finally, Huntley and other parties that would be affected by the transmission lines can appeal the commerce commission's decision.

Village Manager Dave Johnson said last week the village was weighing its options after the unfavorable ruling.

The village has so far done its part to protect its residents and property owners, collecting signatures and offering testimony against the Kreutzer Road route.

But after the latest decision, the village - with the input of board members elected as stewards of taxpayer dollars - needs to think long and hard about whether to continue pursuing a costly and losing legal battle against ComEd.

At this point, the village's energies might be best spent working to make the Longmeadow Parkway Corridor a reality and lobbying ComEd to take the future widening of Kreutzer Road into consideration when deciding where exactly to put the new lines.

So far, ComEd has been noncommittal on agreeing to place the power lines outside the future width of Kreutzer Road, saying it can't make definite plans based on a mere possibility.

I don't know what legal, financial and logistic obstacles ComEd would face if it agreed to site the lines outside of the future boundaries of Kreutzer.

But if these could be overcome, building the power lines outside Kreutzer's future width could be an acceptable compromise for the village, a sign of good faith from the utility and a way for the village and ComEd to mend fences.

Unfortunately, a conciliatory approach wouldn't be much consolation to the affected property owners and residents.

Many of them would have a tough time fighting the utility giant without Huntley's resources and legal muscle.

But the best option for all of Huntley's taxpayers at this point may be for the village to accept the inevitable and do its best to mitigate the impact of the transmission lines.