Capon Valley Coalition

From the Charleston Gazette April 24:

PSC sets hearing on power line settlement

The state Public Service Commission has scheduled a hearing for late May to discuss a major settlement of part of the case over the $1.3 billion Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line, or TrAIL.

Commissioners set the hearing for 9:30 a.m. May 27 at PSC headquarters in downtown Charleston.

The PSC will hear testimony and allow questioning concerning the settlement between power line developers Allegheny Energy and the commission staff and consumer advocate.

In a Thursday order, the PSC also formally delayed its deadline for making a decision on the transmission line until Aug. 2 to consider the settlement.

MAJOR NEWS! Spread the word.

And ask yourself, what happens after seven years? (Maryland had rate increases deferred for a number of years, and last year, consumers got clobbered!)

The Charleston Gazette reported today:

The state Public Service Commission wants to delay its decision on a $1.3 billion power line across northern West Virginia until early August.

Commissioners want more time to review a settlement that resolved opposition from the PSC’s staff and consumer advocate division.

The PSC wants to allow other parties to comment on the deal, and time to hold a hearing for testimony and arguments over the settlement’s impact on the case.

Originally, the PSC was required by state law to give Allegheny a decision by May 2.

Last week, Allegheny lawyers said that the power company would voluntarily give up the right to a decision by then. Company lawyers proposed that the PSC study the settlement for 30 days, and issue a ruling by June 2.

The PSC responded that “it is apparent” that the 30 days would not be enough time for other parties to comment on the deal or for the commission to consider it.

Allegheny is seeking PSC approval to build its proposed Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line, or TrAIL. The 500-kilovolt line would carry electricity from southwestern Pennsylvania through West Virginia and into northern Virginia.

Power company officials say that the line is needed to provide cheap and reliable power to big Eastern cities and their growing suburbs. But the project has drawn intense opposition from hundreds of West Virginians, who fear it will mar scenic views, lower their properly values and continue what they say is an environmentally damaging reliance on coal-fired power.

As originally proposed, the West Virginia portion of the transmission line would run about 114 miles through six counties. It would enter the state north of Morgantown, and run south and east through Monongalia, Preston and Tucker counties to a substation near Mount Storm in Grant County. Then, it would extend for 47 miles through Grant and Hardy counties and into Hampshire County, before entering Virginia near Capon Springs.

Under last week’s deal, Allegheny agreed to use an alternate route proposed by the consumer advocate. Instead of cutting across southern Monongalia and Preston counties - where opposition has been the most organized - the line would go more directly south, before cutting east and following existing transmission lines from Pruntytown to Mount Storm.

Allegheny also promised to move a transmission operations center to West Virginia and save state customers more than $40 million in industry rate reductions, low-income assistance and conservation plans, and deferments of rate hikes to fund transmission line construction.

The announced settlement prompted a letter to the PSC renewing the West Virginia Coal Association’s support for the power line.

“Additional transmission lines will add hundreds of construction jobs, hundreds of permanent jobs, preserve the long-term viability of WV coal-fired power plants and add the transmission capacity needed to potentially construct new coal plants right here in West Virginia,” wrote association President Bill Raney.

“Projects such as TrAIL are important to the future of West Virginia coal and to our state as we secure a place for coal-fired electric generation in the national energy market.”

The Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported today that Allegheny Power will build a new operations center near Morgantown as part of an effort to win approval for the TrAIL power line in West Virginia.

The story follows:

Allegheny Energy Inc. within three years will build a $50 million operations center in the Morgantown, W.Va., area for its power transmission business and staff it with up to 150 engineers, planners, siting experts and administrators.

An undetermined number of the staff will come from the company’s operations in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, a spokesman said.

Agreeing to build the center is a major piece of a settlement pact between the Greensburg-based energy company, the Consumer Advocate Division of the West Virginia Public Service Commission and a group of large West Virginia electricity users known as the West Virginia Energy Users Group.

The pact is part of Allegheny Energy’s efforts to gain a go-ahead for its proposed $1.2 billion, 500-kilovolt, 240-mile power line called the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line, or TrAIL, between Washington County and Loudoun County, Va. Most of it would pass through West Virginia.

“The agreement would bring additional jobs to West Virginia, shield our West Virginia customers from project-related costs for seven years, provide funding for conservation and low-income energy assistance programs, and address many issues raised by the commission’s staff,” David Flitman, president of Allegheny Energy’s transmission and distribution unit, Allegheny Power, said in a statement.

Building a facility consolidating transmission-related personnel now located in Greensburg and throughout Allegheny Energy’s service territory isn’t new, said spokesman Doug Colafella. It’s part of the company’s long-range plan. It’s not known how many Greensburg personnel would be relocated. Allegheny Energy has about 1,000 employees in Greensburg.

While a specific site for the operations center hasn’t been selected, Colafella said more than likely property near Morgantown would be chosen, saying the area already contains a number of Allegheny Energy transmission lines.

“Our long-term plan was to build an operations center near where most of our transmission lines are, and where TrAIL and PATH will run, and that’s West Virginia,” Colafella said.

PATH, the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline, is a $1.8 billion joint venture between Allegheny Energy and American Electric Power of Columbus, Ohio. It will span about 290 miles beginning at American Electric’s John Amos coal-fired power plant near St. Albans, W.Va., and run northeast through West Virginia carrying 765 kilovolts, the highest-voltage power line in use, before changing to twin 500-kilovolt lines for the path through rural central Maryland to a substation to be built near Frederick, Md.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission is expected to make a decision by June 2, with Allegheny Energy also needing approvals from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and the Virginia State Corporation Commission to construct the entire Trans-Allegheny transmission line.