> Electrical signal attenuation increases with the square of the distance

Power transmission lines at 60Hz primarily have ohmic losses, which are linear with length of the conductor.

Interesting fact - Power transmission lines are long enough that the capacitive and inductive effects do matter a little bit, even though it's only 60Hz. That's why spacing between conductors is important. 3-phase lines will also rotate the order of conductors every so often to keep the average spacing between all pairs of lines similar.

The mind boggles at how many little bits of information like this keep our world running smoothly...