Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline (PATH)
PATH is a multi-state 765kV power line project proposed by American Electric Power (AEP) and Allegheny Energy, hot on the heels of the TrAIL transmission line project, approved in early 2008, that is currently carving up the Potomac Highlands and other areas of West Virginia, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
The proposed PATH project is huge, running 275 miles through West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland, with two new substations, one of which (Kemptown, MD) would be the largest substation in the United States. For more background information, please see the December 2009 Update and the Resources section below.
February 21st 2010 PATH Update
On Wednesday January 27th, the Virginia State Corporation Comission (VA-SCC) ruled in favor of PATH-VA's request to withdraw their application for PATH. PATH-VA has said that new data indicates that PATH will not be needed until after 2014 and that they will reapply in VA, but not until at least the third quarter of this year. PATH companies continue, however, to press on in MD and WV.
The power companies' PATH website PathTransmission.com is back up, after having been down for awhile. Some pages are still "Under Construction," but at least the maps all seem to be there unchanged from when the site went down.
PATH Land Agents and How to Avoid Them
If you own property in West Virginia that is on or near the proposed PATH Right-Of-Way (ROW), you may soon be, or may have already been, contacted by one of the PATH Right-Of-Way Agents ("ROW Agents" or "land men") asking for permission to come onto your property to do survey work. They may ask you to "option" future easement rights for a cash payment now. Be very wary of these agents -- they may seem very friendly, and they are supposed to follow a Code of Conduct:
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However, the agents are looking out for the power companies, not you, and there have been reports that they are not always following their Code. Be aware that "survey" work may not be just driving in some stakes and marking some trees, it could be a 40-foot wide "sight line" clear-cut through your property.
You do NOT have to let anyone onto your property or sign any paperwork you are given by an Agent. The power companies do not have any right to be on your property at all unless and until the PSC grants them a "Certificate of Convenience and Necessity." This decision is not due until February 24, 2011, a year from now. If the PSC grants them their Certificate, they will have the right to get an easement on your property in order to survey the land, clear it, build the towers, and string the cables. At that time you can negotiate a price with them for the easement. The value of this easement goes up once the project is approved -- the LAST land-owner to sign an agreement usually gets MORE than the first.
Some landowners have told the power companies and the WV-PSC that they do not want to even be contacted about land rights before this project gets approved. If you wish to do the same, we have a Notice To Deny Right-Of-Way Access form that you can use:
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You will need to send a copy to the WV-PSC and a copy to PATH. If you have already given PATH permission to survey on your property but now regret that decision, you can send in a Notice To Withdraw Right-Of-Way Access Permission form:
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Eminent Domain Process
If PATH gets approved and you do not eventually agree on a price for the easement on your land, or you refuse to negotiate at all, you can be taken to court using the power of Eminent Domain. In this case, you can demand a jury trial where you can present your case, get the power companies to pay your lawyer fees, and have a jury of 12 of your fellow landowners from your county decide how much you will be paid for the PATH easement across your land.
Last summer, WV attorney Charles Printz gave a presentation to the Berkeley County, WV Farm Bureau about how to fight for your rights under West Virginia's laws concerning eminent domain and land condemnation. You can view this excellent 20 minute lecture that explains the court process here: viddler.com/explore/craigyohn/videos/196.
January 5th 2010 PATH Update
As promised, in late December PATHco re-applied to MD-PSC. In a completely unexpected move, however, they concurrently petitioned VA-PSC to withdraw the VA application! They now say that it will be at least the 3rd quarter of 2010 until they file again in VA.
The Power Line blog, as always, was right on top of the situtation:
The VA SCC held its hearing this morning [December 30th 2009] AEP/Allegheny's motion to withdraw its application in East Virginia.
Intervenors spoke up loudly and forcefully, demanding that the power companies be prevented from filing a new application at any time in the future and that AEP/Allegheny be required to pay all intervenors' expenses for the case to date, due to the frivolous nature of the PATH application.
Intervenors appear to be quite correct in their assessment that AEP/Allegheny's PATH applications are frivolous. By midsummer 2009, PJM Interconnection had all the information that the VA SCC required them to include in their need assessment for PATH, yet PJM, and AEP/Allegheny, failed to update their MD/WV/VA PATH applications. Now that this information has been incorporated into PJM's calculations, we find that PATH won't be needed in 2014 to prevent all the terrible things the power companies were crying about.
December 2009 PATH Update
To apply for State approval of PATH, AEP and Allegheny created a dizzying array of shell companies - all operating as members of the Regional Transmission Operator PJM Interconnection - that we will collectively call PATHco. They filed for approval with the WV Public Service Commission (WV-PSC), the VA State Corporation Commission (VA-SCC), and the MD-PSC in Spring 2009. They claim that PATH is needed to prevent a variety of electrical grid problems in the future. A problem for them is that electricity use has been declining, especially since the economic collapse in 2008. They have already changed their predictions more than once, and, based on filings with WV-PSC and VA-PSC, will do so yet again. Their numbers are not adding up.
So if electricity demand is going down - and many experts think that it will take many years to recover, if it ever does - why build this massive new power line? Why now? The answer, as it so often seems to be, is greed.
Thanks to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC - see below), PATHco is guaranteed a whopping 14.3% profit on every dollar they spend on PATH, even if PATH is never built. The lawyers, the helicopter rides for reporters, the TV ads, the land purchases, the surveying - including, of course, the actual construction costs should it get approved - all of this money is recouped, plus 14.3%, from us, their captive electricity customers in the 11 states in which AEP and Allegheny operate.
It gets worse. If PATH does get built, it will connect AEP's dirty, cheap, coal-fired power plants up and down the Ohio River valley - including the John Amos Power Plant where PATH starts - to the lucrative East Coast market. Angry yet? Yeah, us too.
Path Gets Snagged
The regulatory process has not been kind to PATH, thanks in large part to an actively engaged citizenry.
In WV, after the TrAIL line was approved, warnings about the upcoming PATH case spread over backyards, farm fences, and the internet. In just a few months, the WV-PSC had received over 200 petitions to intervene (formally participate) in the PATH case. [Full Disclosure: Two of our Officers are intervenors in this case.] This has provided both an unprecedented challenge to the PSC in managing the case, as well as a golden opportunity for citizens' concerns and opinions to be heard.
In MD, the intervenors have not yet had a chance. In early September 2009 MD-PSC rejected the PATH application because the PATHco shell company on the application is not a Public Utility under MD law. PATHco dragged their heels about refiling in MD, brazenly contemplating bypassing the State Commissions altogether and going directly to FERC for approval.
Meanwhile, since there was no longer an active MD application pending, VA-SCC and WV-PSC Staff made motions to dismiss the case, requesting that PATHco file new applications in all three states after the new electricity use data due out in February 2010 could be incorporated in the filings.
In response to the staff motions PATHco promised to re-file in MD by December 31st 2009, so the VA-SCC has decided to proceed on schedule, with a final hearing date of January 19th 2010. WV, on the other hand, has delayed the case by 8 months, with the evidentiary hearing now scheduled from October 19th 2010 through November 2nd 2010. The final WV-PSC decision is due by February 24th 2011.
What's Next?
In VA, only the evidentiary hearing is left on the agenda, but MD is at the opposite end of the spectrum, with the PSC approval process just getting started and the opportunity for citizens to petition to intervene in that case. There will also be public hearings to attend. Our Take Action page has some pointers on getting involved in the regulatory process.
In WV, we now have an additional 8 months to keep writing letters - to the editors of our local papers, the Charleston papers, the PSC, and Governor Manchin. We need our State legislators to resist the Governor's unconstitutional "transmission tax" scheme to charge other states for electricity coming out of WV so the PSC can claim that WV benefits from PATH. We also need to revise the WV-PSC process to be more even-handed for ordinary citizens. In 2009, in response to inadequacies in the TrAIL case, the PSC Siting Reforms Bill was introduced; it did not get to a vote, but a similar bill will almost surely be introduced at the 2010 regular legislative session.
The PATH Players
Electric Companies and Grid Operators
Allegheny Energy is a utility holding company that owns these regulated utilities, doing business as Allegheny Power: West Penn Power Company (PA); Monongahela Power Company (WV); and The Potomac Edison Company (MD, VA, and WV).
American Electric Power (AEP) owns nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation's largest electricity transmission system, and utility units including Appalachian Power (VA and WV).
PJM Interconnection is a Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia. Allegheny and AEP are members of PJM.
Regulatory Authorities
The following State Public Utility Commissions all regulate energy rates and utility siting within their states. An application for PATH was filed with each of these commissions in May 2009.
MD Public Service Commission (MD-PSC) - No Current case. On 09/09/09, MD-PSC rejected PATHco's initial application due to the fact that Potemac Edision's shell company PATH Allegheny Transmission Company, LLC (PATH-Allegheny) was not an "electric company" under Maryland statute. After some delay, Potomac Edison eventually said that it intends to file a new application for PATH with MD-PSC by 12/31/09.
VA State Corporation Commission (VA-SCC) - Case Number PUE-2009-00043. On 10/19/09 the a VA-SCC Staff filed a Motion to Dismiss the PATH application on the grounds that the lack of an active application in MD rendered the project incomplete. On 11/11/09, the VA-SCC hearing Examiner rejected that motion and stuck with the original schedule of the evidentiary hearing starting on 01/19/10.
WV Public Service Commission (WV-PSC) - Case Number 09-0770-E-CN. On 10/28/09, WV-PSC Staff also filed a Motion to Dismiss, citing the lack of a MD application, as well requesting more up-to-date electrial need and use data. On 11/24/09 the WV-PSC ordered that the case not be dismissed but rather "tolled" or delayed. The new schedule calls for the evidentiary hearing to run from 10/18/10 through 11/02/10, with the final PSC decision due by 02/24/11.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulates the interstate transmission of energy. FERC claims that the Energy Policy Act of 2005 allows them to overturn a State Commission rejection of proposed power lines by considering regional benefits that the individual states cannot. This interpretation was rejected in February 2009 by the U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit, but the electric companies want to keep testing this authority to enable them to bypass the states entirely.
PATH Resources
The State Commision websites linked to above have all the documents related to PATH available online to the public. Their sites are a bit hard to navigatem but stck with it and you will find reams of information.
The power companies' information site is PathTransmission.com. It has maps, formal filing documents, and lots of pro-PATH propoganda.
The Power Line blog from Calhoun County is a great source of information on fighting PATH. It has a number of summary pages on almost every aspect of the case against PATH in WV.
Community & Environmental Defense Services (CEDS) has a very useful web page titled Transmission Lines: Getting the Benefits Without the Impacts. It has information on defeating bad transmission line projects, electro magnetic fields (EMF) & health, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) bachstop authority, and more.
Stop PATH WV is a Jefferson County based grassroots movement of ordinary citizens who object to the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline because it is not needed, it is not wanted, it is destructive to West Virginia, and it is an obstacle to meaningful reform of U.S. energy policy.
The MarylandEnergyReport blog has the scoop on fighting PATH in MD, as well as info on many other energy-related topics got Marylanders.
Citizens Against Kemptown Electric Substation (C.A.K.E.S) is a Frederick County, Maryland citizens group determined to prevent the highest voltage electric substation ever built in the United States that is proposed to be built in the middle of our established Mount Airy/Monrovia neighborhoods as the end-point of PATH.
No To PATH is a Loudoun County, Virginia citizens group determined to prevent the PATH power line.
