Power Lines Promise PATH of Destruction, TrAIL of Tears

Excerpted from stories by Ken Ward Jr., Charleston Gazette

The WV Public Service Commission has approved Allegheny Energys plans to build a huge electric transmission line that will stretch across much of northern West Virginia.

The Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line, being promoted by Allegheny as TrAIL, will be a 120-mile-long, 500-kilovolt transmission line running from southwestern Pennsylvania across West Virginia and into Virginia.

Commissioners concluded in a 135-page ruling that the $1.1 billion project "results in an acceptable balance between reasonable power needs and reasonable environmental factors."

The case was among the most controversial PSC matters in years, and is the first of two proposed major in-state power-line projects to go before the commission.

The other project is the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline, being promoted as PATH. That line would run 290 miles from near the John Amos power plant outside St. Albans to a substation proposed southeast of Frederick, Md. PATH is a joint venture between Allegheny and American Electric Power.

Supporters say that these projects are needed so the nations aging electricity grid can continue to provide cheap and reliable power to big Eastern cities and their growing suburbs.

But TrAIL has - and PATH is almost certain to - draw intense opposition from West Virginians who fear huge power lines and towers will mar scenic views, lower their property values, and continue what they say is an environmentally damaging reliance on coal-fired electricity.

"The Sierra Club will be monitoring this issue closely, and we expect to be involved when the application is filed with the PSC; however a final decision will likely be made at that time," said Jim Kotcon, a spokesman for the group. "A lot may depend on the precedents set in the TrAIL case, as that could revise our opportunities for effectively influencing the outcome."

The WV Sierra Club will continue to fight this (donations for legal expenses will be essential), go to www.westvirginia.sierraclub.org for more information. Other groups opposing PATH and TrAIL include:

• Laurel Run Watershed Association, www.laurenrunwatershed.org, Monongalia County information.

• Halleck and Southern Monongalia County Community Association, www.notowersinwv.org.

• Piedmont Environmental Council, www.pevca.org (Virginia).

• Energy Conservation Council of Pennsylvania, www.stopthetowers.org (Pennsylvania).