In the last weeks of summer, the southeast coast of the country has been laid to waste by a devastating series of hurricanes, leaving countless homeless; and even more without power.

For instance, as the result of Hurricane Frances, over 900,000 people were left without power.  With a death toll of 12 to its credit, Hurricane Ivan left the island of Granada and made its way to Florida.  This third in a series of hurricanes left Florida in even worse condition, not to mention its toll on Alabama. (In this case, three is not a charm.)

As citizens anxiously awaited the return of power, repair crews from as far north s Pennsylvania rushed down the coast to join the some 11,000 others who were already striving to repair the damage that Frances had wreaked on Florida.

Perhaps it is time to ask ourselves; “Is it worth it?  Is the money we save from not burying power lines of any use?”

 As opposed to repairing power lines every single time this happens, (and I’m sure it will happen again) state governments should have power lines buried.  Our electricity will hardly be affected (if at all) by wind, and, should the power go out, it will take a fraction of the time to fix.

Not only would this be an economically beneficial solution, it would be safer as well, for falling power lines can be quite hazardous, even after they are down.  Now, this third benefit might be trivial to some, but nevertheless it is true; buried power lines would also affect the aesthetic aspect of our streets.

 Some believe that placing our power lines underground would be much more expensive than using telephone poles, but some also fail to take into account the cost of maintenance.  Burying state power lines could cost up to tens of millions of dollars, but, should another ‘Frances’ arrive at our coast, we could save the enormous expense of supplying power-deprived citizens with potable water and ice. (Both of which are attained by refrigeration, and therefore, electricity.)