TISHOMINGO, OK -- Oklahoma Gas & Electric is working to build a new electrical transmission line through Southern Oklahoma, but some local residents in the Tishomingo area are fighting the proposed plan. Shelby Levins attended a public meeting Monday night in Tishomingo and has this report.

A spokesman for OG&E says the new electrical transmission line is being mandated by the Southwest Power Pool, the organization that's responsible for ensuring electrical reliability in the region. However landowners we spoke with Monday night are concerned with the electrical line's proposed route from outside of Lone Grove all the way over to Hugo.

"I think this is outrageous," says longtime Tishomingo resident Sharron Austin.

Austin helped plan a meeting of concerned citizens Monday night. These residents of the Tishomingo area are upset with OG&E's new transmission line route that could march through Johnson County just north of the city.

"We're viewed as a county that really doesn't matter, that we're maybe some country bumpkins down here, and they can pass this through without a care," Austin says.

OG&E's new electrical transmission line would stretch from this substation in Lone Grove 120 miles east to Hugo. The power company says they're proposing 90-foot tall, so-called H-frame structures that would carry 345,000 volts of power.

Austin says these new lines would not only lower area property value, but could pose health risks.

"I'd like to see some studies that conclusively say that this is safe and there's not any."

OG&E says there's no evidence that these lines cause any heath issues, and that the lines are necessary to improve electrical reliability in Southern Oklahoma.

"We have to have the reliability to continue our commerce and continue our daily lives. Just about anything that you do during the day involves electricity,” says OG&E manager of community affairs Dean Pollock.

Pollock says that the exact route of the electrical lines is being plotted by a third party engineering company to ensure local biases and politics don't play a factor in the lines' location.

Pollock says they're trying to map the lines out so they disrupt the fewest people and property owners, but the new line will benefit the entire area.

"This is a good thing for southeastern Oklahoma because they have recognized the growth we have down here and the expected growth in the area, so we're preparing for the future."

But Austin says it's the future that she's concerned about.

"The concern is not just my grandchildren but there are a lot of families that are being affected by this in Johnston County."

OG&E says they've already wrapped up their 4 community meetings, but they're still working with the public to finalize the exact line route. The company says they hope to have it finalized by December 1st.