Letter to Hampshire Review from CVC Chairman Bill Golemon
Bill wrote the following letter which appeared in the print edition of the Hampshire Review earlier this month:
Editor:
As you noted in your article of April 23rd, the West Virginia Public Service Commission has delayed until August 2nd its decision on the Allegheny Power application to construct the TrAIL power line. They have reached an agreement in which Allegheny Power has made further concessions, which they claim show their “commitment to balancing all interests and minimizing TrAIL’s impact on customers, communities and the environment”.The details of this agreement and reactions to it will be available on the Capon Valley Coalition website (caponvalleycoalition.com) and linked sites. (Coming soon.)
In fact, the agreement doesn’t “balance” or “minimize” anything. If approved, the power line (and the proposed PATH power line, even bigger and coming soon) will take our property, destroy property values and damage our environment, in order to provide electrical power to other states at our expense, and enormous profits to Allegheny Power and its management.
Hearings have been held in Virginia and Pennsylvania and the decisions of their state utility commissions are pending. There has been overwhelming opposition to TrAIL expressed at these hearings, as there was in WV.
The PA state consumer advocate was quoted as saying it “isn’t necessary”; a Public Utilities Commission staff analyst “doesn’t believe Allegheny Power has satisfied all applicable statutes and regulations”; and the Pennsylvania Energy Conservation Council believes Allegheny Energy’s “reasons for building the project (were) not supported in the data”.
The state of Arizona has denied an application for a similar power line to supply power to Southern California, and the energy company will ask the U. S. Dept. of Energy to approve it over Arizona’s denial.
The U. S. Senate will apparently schedule hearings to review the National Interest Electrical Transmission Corridor legislation which permits this.
Allegheny Power has sent a letter to the Hampshire County Commision asking them to support the TrAIL application, reversing the Commission’s previous resolution opposing it. The recent agreement does not warrant a reversal of this position, and we strongly urge our County Commissioners and all county citizens concerned about our environment, scenic beauty, and property rights and values to continue to oppose TrAIL.
William Golemon
Yellow Spring
Note: The Hampshire County Commissioners rejected the Allegheny Power request for support, and the Capon Valley Coalition applauds the commissioners for their action.