Power line plan moves forward (WVU The Daily Athenaeum)
If a solution is not reached by 2011, then the existing transmission system will overload, said Allen Staggers, Allegheny Power spokesman.
While Allegheny believes the best solution would be to install a new system that cuts through West Virginia and two other states, many residents of Monongalia County are up in arms over the issue.
“It’s such a broad and dynamic issue,” said John Balasko, vice president of the Halleck Community Association, an organization against the construction of the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Lines (TrAIL).
Balasko said he and other activists have put up signs, visited West Virginia’s senators in Washington, D.C., met with Senator Alan Mollahan’s aide and Gov. Joe Manchin and attended meetings across the state to prevent the construction of the TrAIL.
Balasko said the key players in the issue are the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Pennsylvania-Jersey-Maryland regional power grid operator. He said generation and transmission companies, along with their subsidiaries, have lobbied the DOE over the past few years for legislation to set policies for new transmission infrastructure.
Staggers said the route of TrAIL will begin at two substations in southwest Pennsylvania, run through West Virginia then east into northern Virginia. Balasko said the West Virginia counties that will be affected are Monongalia, Preston, Tucker, Grant, Hampshire and Hardy counties.
However, Balasko said that while it is difficult to argue against the fact that the new infrastructure would increase reliability of electricity, there are other ways to ensure dependability.
“Conservation is another way to decrease the demand for electricity,” Balasko said. “And those efforts have not been looked at.”
He said if generation stations were built closer to one another or if people conserve more energy, then one can increase reliability of electricity. Balasko also said that if customers want to be charged less during electrical “off-peak hours,” then electrical meters should be put in.
Staggers said that while Allegheny Power does do things to keep the existing system from overloading, and there are alternatives to putting in a new line, a new system is the best solution. He said because Allegheny customers expect electricity to be provided to them, other alternatives would not work as well as putting in a new system.
The DOE announced Tuesday the designation of two National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETC), one of them being a Mid-Atlantic corridor.
According to an article on newsblaze.com, the corridors are located in the “most populous regions with growing electricity congestion problems.” The DOE determined these locations from data collected from periodic national electric transmission congestion studies.
“Designation of National Corridors confirms that we must tackle our nation’s energy issues on multiple fronts, with multiple pathways,” said Kevin M. Kolevar, DOE assistant secretary in the article.
The Mid-Atlantic Area National Corridor includes areas in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Virginia, all of New Jersey, Delaware and Washington, D.C.
Balasko said the designation of these corridors allow the DOE to overrule states even if the states want to delay the approving of installation of a transmission line for one year.
He said he thought the organizations looked at West Virginia as an “easy target” for the line. He said with the installation of the line, there will be more pollution in the state because of the coal-burning plants.
“I don’t like the corporations raping out state of our natural resources. It’s time the citizens of our state stood up to the federal government and the state government,” Balasko said. “We’re becoming the utility room of the East Coast.”