If you drive just a few minutes off FM 149 you come across a section of land that sits virtually untouched. At least the owners are trying to keep it that way.
"This area here is prime dragon fly habitat," said landowner Cindy Martin.
Martin and Ray Audas call it the 'Red Bud Nature Preserve.' Its 176 acres which they have set aside just for native plants and animals, imagine their worry when they received a letter saying electrical transmission lines could soon be cutting through the property.
"From a scale of one to 10, I'm an 11! I'm very worried," said Audus. "It makes me sick. It makes me ill."
There are 14 potential routes for the lines. There would be six to eight towers every mile, up to 120 feet high.
"It's off the charts. It would be absolutely devastating," Martin said.
Entergy says one of its fastest growing areas is right here in Montgomery County. This transmission project they tell us is meant to help support that growth.
Entergy says it can take the property using eminent domain, that landowners would get fair market value.
"We certainly don't want to go there and we believe we will be able to work with landowners to avoid that," said Carl Olson with Entergy.
The landowners say it's not about the money. They just want to preserve the land they have been working so hard to protect. They and others nearby have through the end of next month to protest.
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