Capon Valley Coalition

Download our flyer about the Sept. 11 meeting in Wardensville and give it to your friends and neighbors who do not have Internet access.

Spread the word.

Click here to get the flyer.

The Capon Valley Coalition — led by Bill Golemon, Grady Bradfield and Ralph Wojtowicz — have arranged for a public meeting with the West Virginia Public Service Commission Sept. 11 in Wardensville.

Here is CVC Chairman Bill Golemon’s letter to the news media announcing the meeting and explaining its purpose.

Save the date. Line up a babysitter for the kids. Be there.

The Capon Valley Coalition will host a public meeting at 7 PM on Tuesday, September 11th at the War Memorial Building on Main Street in Wardensville, in order to oppose the TRAIL power line proposed by Allegheny Power. Mr. Billy Jack Gregg, Director of the Consumer Advocate Division of the West Virginia Public Service Commission will discuss Allegheny’s proposal and the approval process, listen to comments and answer questions.

Hampshire and Hardy County Commisioners, who have already gone on record opposing the power line, are invited, as well as our local area state legislators. I sent information concerning the power line to many of our legislators in March, asking for a meeting, but I have not received any replies. Many state Senators and Delegates from other counties have actively opposed the power line, but I am not aware of any of our representatives who have done so.

The power line is a 240-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line with towers up to 175 feet high, from Western Pennsylvania through Mt. Storm to Northern Virginia near Stephens City. It will pass through Monongalia, Preston and Grant Counties, and through Hardy and Hampshire, crossing the Cacapon River between Yellow Spring and Capon Springs. It will not provide power for West Virginia, although our rates may be increased to pay for it. There is very strong opposition to it in Northern Virginia, including their Senators, Congressmen, state legislators, and local and county governments. Knowledgable experts say the power is not needed there but will go to the northeastern states.

Electric power companies will make enormous profits buying power from coal-fired plants in midwestern states and selling it in northeastern states, as long as they can take our land cheaply to build more and more power lines. This power line will be built next to a very large existing line, and will require an additional 200-foot right of way from landowners, who will be forced to sell it whether they want to or not. It will do further damage to the environment and the scenic beauty of our counties, destroy property values and the financial security of many families, lower the tax base, discourage real estate sales and economic development, and increase the potential health hazard to people living nearby.

It is time for the citizens of Hampshire and Hardy Counties to become informed and to express their opinions on this issue to their elected representatives.

Billy Jack Gregg, the Director of the Consumer Advocate Division of the West Virginia Public Service Commission, will meet with the Capon Valley Coalition and members of the public at an open meeting on Sept. 11. He will discuss the TRAIL power line application and answer questions from citizens.

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. in the Wardensville War Memorial building on Main Street, next to the fire hall.

CVC leaders arranged the meeting and have invited Hampshire and Hardy County Commissioners. They also plan to invite state legislators from our area.

Mr. Gregg has already appeared at meetings in Monongalia and Preston Counties hosted by their County Commissions. These meetings have been successful in informing and energizing citizens and gaining support from state legislators in opposing the power line and the NIETC legislation.

Tell your neighbors who do not have Internet access and plan to attend. This is your chance to ask questions and get some straight answers.

From CVC Chairman Bill Golemon in July.

Note the point we highlighted in bold: The people who benefit from TrAIL will NOT pay for it; YOU WILL.

Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20426

Re: Docket Nos. EL05-121-000; EL05-121-002; RM06-12-001

Dear Commissioner Kelliher:

As you are well aware, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) currently is seeking public comment on its two draft National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC) designations, the Mid-Atlantic Area National Corridor and the Southwest Area National =Corridor. The former corridor would encompass thirty-eight West Virginia counties and two proposed transmission line projects — Allegheny Power’s Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line (TrAIL) and AEPs’ Amos-Kemptown-Deans 765-kV (I-765) proposal — significant portions of which would be in West Virginia.

In light of the severe electric transmission congestion in the Mid-Atlantic area, the threat that congestion poses to the economy and security of West Virginia and her neighbors, and the ability of additional transmission facilities to alleviate that congestion while economically benefiting West Virginia, I wrote to Energy Secretary Bodman in October of 2006 urging that any corridor designation include the two above-mentioned projects. Unfortunately, since my letter, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“the Commission” or “FERC”) has issued two orders that now raise grave concerns about how West Virginians will be affected by these projects and the draft corridor.

First, on April 19, 2007, the Commission issued an Order on Initial Decision in Docket Nos. EL05-121-000 and EL05-121-002. In the Order on Initial Decision, the Commission held, in part, that the cost of new transmission facilities that operate at or over 500 kV, such as Allegheny’s TrAIL and AEP’s I-765 projects, will be rolled-in and allocated to all customers in a region according to each customer’s share of the region’s load, rather than on a “beneficiary pays” basis where the cost is borne by customers to whom the facilities carry the electricity.

With respect to the two abovementioned transmission projects, the practical effect of the Order on Initial Decision would be to unduly shift a disproportionate share of the cost of those projects away from those customers receiving the electricity in the greater-Washington, D.C. area to ratepayers in West Virginia where those lines will be predominantly sited. West Virginians have always been proud to take the lead in powering this country, but to expect them to do the heavy-lifting of generating and delivering so much of America’s power and then pay for others’ use of the power is simply unfair. Indeed, the Commission should reconsider its decision, as West Virginia’s Public Service Commission (WVPSC) has recently requested, and adopt a cost allocation methodology founded on the just and reasonable concept that beneficiaries of transmission facilities should pay for those facilities.

Second, on May 17, 2007, the Commission issued an Order Denying Rehearing in Docket No. RM06-12-001. Among other things in the Order Denying Rehearing, the Commission determined how it would interpret language in the federal legislation enabling the NIETC, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (“the Act”), authorizing the Commission to issue a permit for construction of transmission facilities in a national corridor if it finds that a state commission that has authority to approve the siting of the facilities has “withheld approval for more than one year after the filing of an application seeking approval pursuant to applicable law or one year after the designation of the relevant [national corridor], whichever is later;…”

As you are aware, the Commission interpreted the phrase “withheld approval” to include a state’s lawful denial of an application to site transmission facilities. This interpretation, however, flies in the face of the plain language of the Act and threatens the critical balance between state sovereignty and national interests. The WVPSC is currently reviewing the above-mentioned projects and I have complete confidence it will reach a timely decision that is in the best interest of West Virginia as both an individual state and a member of a larger regional electric transmission grid. Any attempt to void a valid and soundly reasoned decision by the WVPSC would run counter to the intent of the Act, the principles of our federal system and, in short, would be untenable from my perspective.

For the foregoing reasons, I strongly urge the Commission to re-evaluate its decisions in the aforementioned proceedings and arrive at more just and reasonable outcomes that will equitably distribute the sacrifice, as well as the benefits, of future electric transmission projects among the people of the Mid-Atlantic region.

Sincerely,
Joe Manchin III
Governor

CVC Chairman Bill Golemon filed the following report in mid-July. We have been derelict in getting it on the Web site:

We have not been able to intervene at the WV PSC. I believe the cost was prohibitive, probably over $20,000 plus the cost of expert witnesses. The deadline is July 22. There are a dozen or more organizations and individuals who have filed already. I have suggested to some of them and to PEC that perhaps PEC could give them some advice or assistance for their appearance at the hearings.

The PSC was not able to find a suitable outside firm to do an Environmental Impact Study and will be doing their own with state assets. I don’t know the status of that. Perhaps one of you could call Caryn Short at the PSC (lead attorney on the case) and ask her. As of last week they were planning regional meetings probably in Sep or Oct, with the hearing in Oct or Nov. I have asked that one be held in Romney.

I attended a meeting in Preston County on July 9 called by their County Commission, similar to the one in Monongalia County earlier. Billy Jack Gregg, head of the PSC Consumer Advocate Division, spoke and answered questions. Over a dozen people spoke out very passionately in opposition to the power line(s) and the NIETC designation. There were two state Senators and two delegates who spoke in opposition. We (and many others) are making headway!

A group of legislators met with Governor Manchin, and he has since written a letter to DOE changing his position, somewhat, on NIETC (influenced also, I believe, by the meeting he had in Romney with CVC members on May 14).

(We will get a copy of that letter online soon.)

Numerous state legislators are on the bandwagon, and hopefully we can get some of ours to support their efforts. I believe a couple may be involved, Ruth Rowan and Sen. Walt Helmick, but I don’t know for sure.

I have asked our Commissioner, Steve Slonaker, to arrange a similar meeting in Hampshire County and invite Mr. Gregg, along with Hardy County and any other Commissioners, and all of our local state legislators. I hope this comes about.

The thing to do now is to write more protest letters to PSC, write, call and e-mail all state and federal legislators, Gov. Manchin, other appropriate state agencies and anyone else we can think of.

Manchin may call a special legislative session, and we should make every effort to get this on their agenda. The Pennsylvania legislature has done that, even testified in congress, Gov. Kaine and the Attorney General in VA have written to DOE opposing the NIETC designation, and we need to do that in WV.

We are having an impact!
Bill