A bill introduced last week by Senator Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, could enable the county to use funds from a special economic development fund to place power lines under ground.

The recent power outages on Whidbey and Camano islands produced a public outcry for buried electrical wires. Not everyone, however, is singing the praises of the costly buried power system, Haugen acknowledged. She is merely setting the wheels in motion to allow access to the funds for utility projects if the need and desire arise.

“I wanted to make sure local government has the option if they want to use the funding,” Haugen said.

The rural county sales tax fund is fed by the annual collection of a tax credit of .08 percent . The state money is to be used exclusively for economic development, to which she said the prospect of underground power lines is directly tied.

“We all know what an impact the last outages had on Whidbey Island,” she said.

The special fund generated $700,000 last year. County commissioners approved two projects in 2006, a $1 million Oak Harbor sewer project and a project in Langley for $242,423. A little over $1.3 million is currently available in the fund.

“They have the .08 money now,” the senator said.

The bill will serve to clarify the fund usage, although the definition of “public facilities” which have been deemed acceptable economic development projects, already includes electricity.