Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (1)
Opposition to power line plan mounts
Elected officials are keeping the pressure on Allegheny Energy and American Electric Power to hold a genuine public hearing on their plan to route a 765-kilovolt electric line from West Virginia to Frederick, Md., including a 10-mile stretch across northern Loudoun County from Between The Hills to Point of Rocks.
The project is called PATH – Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline – and it will move power from the coal-fired plant in Amos, W.Va, to a planned station just south of Frederick, Md., and from there to markets in New Jersey and New York. As planned, PATH will cross Loudoun but leave no power in the county.
The companies say moving the power east is necessary to maintain stability in the regional transmission grid. Loudoun residents will benefit from the project, they say, when a more reliable grid does not crash and cause power outages at times of peak usage in the summer.
State Sen. Mark Herring (D-eastern Loudoun), Supervisors Sally Kurtz (D-Catoctin) and Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge), and Lovettsville Mayor Elaine Walker met Feb. 5 with Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) to ask for his support.
"We asked him to join us in calling for a public forum," Kurtz said after the meeting last week. The governor seemed sympathetic to the request, she said, "but whether he can do anything remains to be seen."
Kaine will be contacting Allegheny executives to urge "better communication" with citizens, said Gordon Hickey in the governor's office. The governor does not think ceding any of Virginia's authority to a group of governors of all the states affected by PATH is a good idea, Hickey said. U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R) has been presssing Kaine to do that.
Kurtz and the other elected leaders have criticized the power companies' "trade show" format for meeting with the public. At those meetings, members of the public shuttle from display to display and talk to a series of company representatives, each of whom is well informed in one aspect of the project.
The public never has the opportunity, Kurtz said, to direct questions to one representative of the company, to demand an answer and to have that answer on the record.
Mark Nitowski, at Allegheny, said executives are discussing the possibility of a public forum but have not reached a conclusion.
Powerlines are a symptom of a larger problem. US population is forecast to continue growing at unaccetpable rates due to excessive immigration. At 1.4 million increase per year and growing we are forecast to hit 439 million by midcentury and approx 575 million by end of century. This is close to doubling the current 309 million and will impact every area of life here in this country, including requiring more power plants, more transmission lines, more roads, more schools, more built space, more mountain top removal, more municipal wastes, more consumption of natural resources, more conversion of outdoor space to manmade environments, more crowding, etc. Corporate lobbies will continue to push for high immigration rates just like they push for poor lending practices, etc to increase their bottom line and CEO pay. Only long term sustained action by many citizens can change this situation.
Posted by dvic
Report Offensive Content
You must be logged in to post a comment.