Capon Valley Coalition

AP reported Nov. 28 in the Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — While careful not to take sides in a dispute over a proposed power line that would run through the northern part of the state, a coalition of business and labor groups said new lines are necessary for West Virginia’s economic future.

West Virginians for Reliable Power — an umbrella group representing about two dozen entities, including power companies, unions and coal companies — outlined their case for new power lines at a presentation Tuesday. Officials said the state’s status as an energy exporter is no guarantee against power shortages and blackouts.

‘‘If the transmission infrastructure is not built, we are as likely to suffer blackouts in West Virginia as we are in New Jersey or New Hampshire,’’ said West Virginia University Institute of Technology President Charles Bayless. ‘‘We are all in this together.’’

Bayless, a former electric company CEO, argued that increasing demand for electricity was stressing the country’s existing power transmission lines.

The coalition’s push comes as the state Public Service Commission is wrapping up public hearings on Allegheny Energy’s plan to build a new line between Pennsylvania and Virginia that would cross northern West Virginia.

Allegheny has not officially asked for a rate increase to help finance construction of the line, but it has estimated that based on certain assumptions, it could cost West Virginia residents about 90 cents more per month for 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, said company spokesman Dave Newrohr.

Opposition to the project has come from local residents rallying around groups like the Halleck Community Association, which argues the lines would not help West Virginians.

‘‘They’re coming into my community to take my property to build a power line that won’t benefit West Virginia, and they’re asking me to pay for it,’’ said Don Corwin, president of the association.

Members of the reliable power coalition said they aren’t taking a position on any project, but are trying to draw attention to the nationwide problem of diminishing transmission capacity.

‘‘There will be opposition, but I think what we have to do is look at the greater good for society,’’ Bayless said.

Other members of the coalition stressed the secondary economic benefits of new transmission lines, such as construction jobs and new routes for the state to export electric power.

Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, compared the state’s electric power-producing industry’s relation to the current transmission network to a factory reachable only by a dirt road.

‘‘We have something that these other states want and need,’’ he said. ‘‘We need these extension cords to get our power to these other states.’’

The PSC is scheduled to hold evidentiary hearings on Allegheny’s proposal in January. State law requires a decision from regulators by mid-May.

Here’s the latest from Gov. Joe “If I change my mind often enough, maybe no one will notice who bought me last” Manchin.

It comes to us from AP via TimesWV.com today:

CHARLESTON — Gov. Joe Manchin wants more information before taking a position on Allegheny Energy’s plan to build a 240-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line through West Virginia.

Manchin wants to know how much state’s ratepayers would have to pay to support the line that would serve portions of the Eastern seaboard and whether the rates can be reduced.

He also wants assurances that landowners would receive fair compensation for property located along the line’s route. And he wonders whether the project would increase the state’s tax base.

“Is there an upside?” he asked. “At this stage, I cannot be in favor of something unless I see that it has some benefit to our state.

“I’m still looking to see what the benefits of this project are.”

Governors in Pennsylvania and Virginia already are on record opposing the project and objecting to federal rules that threaten to usurp a state’s power to approve or reject Allegheny’s plan by allowing the company to appeal to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for another outcome.

Though West Virginia has not officially challenged the federal government’s authority to overrule state regulatory agencies, Manchin says he opposes “takings” by the federal government and wants to make sure the federal government does not trample on the state’s sovereignty.

“I haven’t seen all the facts,” he said. “At this stage, we haven’t seen a benefit.”

The state Public Service Commission plans to conduct evidentiary hearings in January to gather more information about the project before making a decision on Allegheny’s plans.

The PSC plans to hold hearings in Kingwood and Charleston this week to solicit public comment on the project.

Allegheny is asking for a 1.2 percent rate increase — about 90 cents per month for 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity — to help finance construction of the line.

Perhaps if we make it simple enough for you, governor, you’ll finally get it: West Virginia taxpayers are going to pay higher electric rates and have their property and communities degraded by monstrous power lines so that people living in places like Philadelphia and Delaware and the Washington suburbs can have cheap electricity without having to put a power plant in their neighborhood. It is no more complicated than that. Period.

And, governor, a lot of us in the Capon Valley are paying attention. We’re not all idiots, and we will remember.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission has ordered that another hearing on Allegheny Power’s plans to build the TrAIL power line be held in Preston County, to the northwest of us, on Monday, Nov. 26.

The hearings are open to the public; anyone can speak. All you have to do is say you are opposed. You don’t need to be a lawyer to express your opinion.

The hearings will be held at 1:30 p.m. and again at 6:30 p.m., at the Kingwood Volunteer Fire Department and Community Building, 2nd Floor, Buckwheat Room, 115 Brown Avenue,
Kingwood, West Virginia.

In a piece headlined “Power Line Project Prompts Strong Reactions” The State Journal reported Nov. 1 that Gov. Joe Manchin supports the Allegheny Power TrAIL line.

Here is an excerpt from the news coverage:

Governor’s Position

A Manchin administration spokesman said the governor recognizes the problems associated with the power line, but also that the state can benefit from it. “We recognize the electricity transmission congestion problems and that West Virginia has a role in alleviating them,” wrote press secretary Matt Turner in an e-mail message.

“The governor believes there are benefits for our state” in the construction of this line, he wrote. Beyond increased stability, “There would be more use of West Virginia coal, jobs created in the construction of new transmission lines, as well as the related power company jobs necessarily located in West Virginia.”

Manchin is relying on the PSC to determine the necessity of and the route for the proposed line, Turner wrote.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania’s governor is fighting every way he knows how. And he has coal jobs to think of, too.