Oglethorpe Power Corporation (OPC) is requesting clearance to widen the existing Preston to Long Branch transmission line right-of-way (ROW) from the current 50 feet to 75 and 100 feet. The project is located entirely within Webster County, Georgia. Because the project requires the approval of the Rural Electrification Authority (REA), a federal agency, an assessment of the potential impacts of the project on historic properties must be completed prior to receiving clearance to proceed. OPC contracted with Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc., to conduct an intensive survey of the existing transmission ROW and the proposed ROW expansion. The survey was intended to locate and evaluate the significance of all historic properties within the proposed ROW. Fieldwork was conducted on May 16-18, 1990. The 11 km (6.9 mi) transmission line was examined by pedestrian coverage using visual inspection of the surface and subsurface shovel testing of areas with no surface visibility. A literature review was conducted prior to the fieldwork for any information on known or anticipated historic properties. The survey of the 11 km (6.9 mi) Preston to Long Branch transmission line located eight prehistoric archeological sites. Table 1 summarizes pertinent site information. Five of the archeological sites are low density lithic artifact scatters. The remaining three are higher density lithic artifact scatters with some ceramics also occurring. One of these three 9Wb12 is located at the Long Branch substation. Approximately 80 percent of this site was destroyed during construction of the substation. The remaining 20 percent is primarily the periphery of the site yet still contains subsurface cultural material, although of a lower density. There are no historic buildings within the proposed ROW widening. Because the Preston to Long Branch transmission line is already in place, there will be no additional impacts to historic buildings near the ROW.
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