Analysis Of Moving Lines Underground Proposed

Thursday, December 13th 2007, 6:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ State regulators say when utilities have restored power in ice-covered Oklahoma they need to look into putting more power lines underground to better survive future ice storms.

Nearly a half million homes and businesses are still without power today in what's being called the worst power outage in state history. The ice storm sent trees crashing into power lines in a large section of the state including Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

And early this year eastern Oklahoma was hit hard by an ice storm that also left hundreds of thousands of residents in the dark.

State Corporation Commission Chairman Jeff Cloud says while many new power lines are being placed underground there is little effort to move existing overhead lines underground.