PATH power line project proposed across 11 WV counties:

Charleston Gazette
September 28,2009
Residents pan PATH power line project
By Ken Ward Jr.
Staff writer
Flatwoods,W Va.-- Central West Virginia residents gave the proposed PATH power line a cool reception Monday,criticizing it as an unnecessary project that would ruin the state's scenic vistas while providing few local benefits and perpetuating the reliance on coal-fired power.
More than 200 people showed up for two rounds of public hearings on the $1.8 Billion proposal for a more than 275-mile, 765-kilovolt transmission line across the heart of West Virginia.
"The project is based mostly on profit,not need," said Paris Webb,whose family has lived and worked on a farm near Gassaway for more than 100 years.
Almost all of the speakers spoke out strongly against the project being promoted by American Electric Power and Allegheny Power as a solution to electrical grid problems that is both environmentally safe and an economic booster for the region. The companies call the project the Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline or PATH.
Residents of Braxton and Calhoun counties blasted PATH on all of those counts. They said it would make West Virginia's grid more vulnerable to power outages elsewhere,damage the state's forest and communities, and provide little in the way of long-term sustainable jobs.
"At a time when people all over the world are beginning to realize the dangers of fossil fuel consumption,it goes beyond all reason to cement our future in the same old ways of obtaining energy," said Jude Binder,an artist and teacher from Calhoun County.
Braxton County resident Misty Dennison said she and her husband are both boilermakers,and support efforts to provide jobs. But Dennison,whose property would be crossed by PATH,said that a new power line isn't the answer to economic woes.
"This line would only make jobs for a short time," Dennison said."I know West Virginia is desperate for jobs,but it's not going to create jobs in the long term."
In seeking PSC approval for PATH,AEP and Allegheny face a bigger fight than Allegheny did when it won authorization for its Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line,or TrAIL,a 500 kilovolt line across the northern part of the state. More than 250 people and groups have intervened in the case,which is scheduled for formal PSC evidentiary hearings in early February.
All three PSC Commissioners showed up for Monday's hearings,held at the Days Inn just off Interstate 79 near Flatwoods.
More than 100 people attended an early afternoon session, and another 100 turned out for an evening hearing.
PATH is proposed to run from near AEP's John Amos Power Plant near St. Albans,across northern Kanawha County and through parts of Roane and Calhoun counties before running through the middle of Braxton County. From there,the proposed route turns northeast across Upshur and Barbour counties.Then, it turns east and cuts across Tucker County and the northern edge of the Monongahela National Forest,and then across Grant,Hardy and Hampshire counties.
The proposed route crosses into Virginia before coming back across Jefferson County and then on east into Maryland.
If the project is approved, it would be funded by rate hikes of 67 cents per month for AEP customers and 56 cents per month for Allegheny customers. Those estimates are based on 1,000 kilowatt hours of power per month.
Public hearings on PATH continue Friday in Charleston,with sessions at 12:30 and 6:30 PM at the Culture Center at the Capitol Complex.

Is there a "reality based" compromise for America's need for energy verses environmental requirements. Can they coexist?

One other question, why are large transmission lines always on towers and not underground?

It seems as if it is a catch 22, we need energy to protect the environment but while extracting and transmitting energy we harm the environment.

I am an advocate for coal, not for companies interests but for my friends jobs and inexpensive energy.

I know I don't have the mental power to come up with solutions that satisfy all sides and I am not sure any one does. In the mean time we will just becker back and forth until the side with the most influence wins.

I also wonder about your metaphors, I know the purpose, and wonder if that is something they teach in law to stir people up ie. juries?

October 29,2009
Charleston Gazette
WVPSC Staff want PATH case stopped

By Ken Ward Jr.

Attorneys for the staff over at the West Virginia Public Service Commission just filed a blockbuster motion that throws another significant procedural hurdle in front of the PATH power line project.
Similar to a motion already discussed by their counterparts in Virginia, the WVPSC staff want the PATH application thrown out because of a Maryland ruling that leaves them unable to fully evaluate the project.

http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2009/10/28/wvpsc-staff-want-path-case-stopped/

Jeremy is doing an important job. All too often the interests of the people are sacrificed to the greed of powerful corporations. It takes a lot of work by folks like Jeremy to keep tabs on the crooks.
The US population is growing slowly. There is no reason whatsoever to upgrade the power grid. Energy conservation, new forms of lighting, better insulation, better glass and more efficient appliances and air conditioners can keep us at today's level of demand for at least five years. If not longer.
The main reason politicians and industry are pushing "modernization" of the power grid is to make way for unreliable, unpredictable (but very heavily subsidized) power sources like wind energy.
The same folks who dominate the domestic Industrial Wind Turbine (IWT) market (General Electric) also dominate efforts to "upgrade" the power grid (General Electric). Oh, and General Electric also owns NBC, the History Channel, the Biography Channel, the Sundance channel, SciFi, Telemundo, 27 broadcast stations, etc. etc... That is why their message that "wind is green" is never far from your eyeballs or eardrums.
Is it any wonder that so many Americans think that industrial wind turbines are an investment in the future? They are... in the future of GE profits.
Rich