CVC Attends Morgantown Hearing Against Allegheny Power’s TrAIL
CVC Chairman Bill Golemon represented us at the West Virginia Public Service Commission hearing on Allegheny Power’s TrAIL power line in Morgantown last Tuesday. He filed this report.
The hearing was very impressive. The opposition expressed was well-informed, eloquent and passionate.
Two men supported the power line, for a total of about five minutes. One was a shop steward for the electrical workers union, and the other a surveyor who does right-of-way work for AP. His argument was that it will provide 700 jobs and a lot of income for restaurants and motels.
One speaker took exception to this, saying that the majority of workers would be from out of state, the jobs would be temporary, and that the benefits would be far outweighed by the long term damage to the state and its citizens.
Speakers included about six state legislators, several college professors, a pathologist, and the deputy mayor of Morgantown. Morgantown has sent a protest letter to PSC, and the deputy mayor said their air quality measures 14.9 (on some scale) where 15 is unacceptably and officially polluted.
The legislators I could identify who spoke were Barbara Fleischauer (also speaking for Charlene Marshall); a spokesman for majority leader Joe DeLong; Alex Shook; and Robert Beach. They adamantly opposed the power line and asked PSC to deny it because it doesn’t meet the State Code requirement of “public convenience and necessity” and does not benefit WV.
The pathologist cited numerous studies claiming greater risk of cancer from power line radiation, particularly for children.
Many speakers called AP arrogant and dishonest, not informing communities of the facts and making”vague” statements in their offers and negotiations. Delegate Fleischauer and many other speakers said West Virginians are getting tired of being “ripped off for the almighty dollar”, and being exploited for generations by corporations owned out-of-state.
The lack of an adequate environmental impact study was cited. Many homeowners said their property would become useless and their homes unlivable; one man said he would just bull-doze his house. One speaker said he has a small airfield and the power line would go right across the flightpath of his runway, making it unusable, and that AP wouldn’t even discuss a feasible alternative route.
That’s a brief summary of a part of what was said, and only in the afternoon session. Every other argument we have made and heard was cited. The recent PEC paper “How Dominion and Allegheny Power Got It Wrong” was referred to and a copy given to the head table.
The interest and opposition from the state delegates was encouraging. I wish we knew how to get our legislators involved.
I hope the meeting in Moorefield tomorrow is as successful. Bill