I'm for it. I used to live in an area that had buried lines and it does cut back CONSIDERABLY on power outages (even the little "blippy" outages during windy times that make me curse and have to reset all my digital clocks).

The few outages we had were mainly problems at transformers (which, I guess, have to stay above ground) or substations. But those were rare.

And it prettifies the landscape. Lady Bird Johnson would have approved.

Yes, it's extremely expensive, and I suppose if some bonehead was using a backhoe or trencher in his yard he could cut the lines (then again, that might only happen ONCE to any given bonehead, if you know what I mean). But if it's at all feasible, it makes tremendous sense in ice-storm country.

And it would mean they'd be able to stop the annual Butchery of the Trees.

It's one thing to bury transmission lines in urban areas as a part of new construction. The line distances are minimal and so is the disruption/cost. However, for most states of any size (like mine, Iowa, or yours, Chaz, Oklahoma) the costs over distances in rural areas are just plain prohibitive. And even in urban areas, unless it's done as part of a new development or general redevelopment, it's a very expensive proposition to bury electric lines. Yes, you will reduce outages, but the cost/benefit ratio really doesn't add up.

After the ice storms in January 2000 at different ends of the Atlanta area, a lot of local rabble-rousers (read, AJC columnists) were demanding Georgia Power bury all power lines RIGHT NOW!!! -- and anyone who suggested there might not be enough risk to justify the urgency or expense, was called a shill for Georgia Power.

I wonder if the idiots who wrote all that nonsense even remember all that now? I've come to suspect the reason for their hysteria is that one of the ice storms knocked out power on Super Bowl Sunday. I was TV-less for five hours that day, but missed none of the game (and not for the reason I haven't missed any of the subsequent games; I actually wanted to watch because the Flaming Thumbtacks were in it).

Wireless transmission isn't far enough off to warrant the expense of burying the cables for a couple of years.

There are quite a few areas here on SI where the power lines are underground. Not only do they escape the high winds and ice storms (when we get them}, the neighborhood looks so much neater.

I think all new construction should have lines installed underground, and a plan made to eventually hide existing lines. Time consuming and expensive, but worth it I think.