[MA-RPC] FW: Ohio utility plans power line right through the
midstate
James Hooper
james.hooper at worldnet.att.net
Thu Feb 2 14:47:30 EST 2006
We have a power line crossing our section. They have an access road
that they reopened to do maintenance work. The road is an access
road for ATVs. We need some sort of agreement so that the same
problem does not occur on any new power line crossings.
On Feb 2, 2006, at 2:30 PM, Walt Daniels wrote:
> Note two comments by Don Owen below, the route map and FERC eminent
> domain
> possibilities.
>
> It is clear that this effects our region so it on our plate to
> decide our
> position. It looks like the Land Use and the Natural Heritage
> subcommittees
> should have the lead on this.
>
> The route looks pretty generic at this point so a very early
> conversation
> with AEP about our concerns may lead to a better crossing. It looks
> likely
> that we will not be able to stop the project so we better be
> prepared with
> good solutions. Probably the best we can insist on is a perpendicular
> crossing. I don't envy AEP's job of finding a 1000ft corridor in
> that area
> as the AT has had no end of problems finding a corridor in that area.
>
> There are far worse things than powerline crossings of the AT, e.g.
> roads
> which have the same typical width but also a large noise factor.
> Does anyone
> have existing ATC and/or NPS policies on powerline crossings? I can
> post
> them on the web for reference. I have only hiked that part of the
> AT once so
> I don't have much to offer in terms of less damaging routes. I am
> sure there
> are Civil War cultural sites in the vacinity. Don Owen or Kent
> Schwarzkopf
> should be able to provide T&E sites to avoid.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Donald_Owen at nps.gov [mailto:Donald_Owen at nps.gov]
> Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 1:51 PM
> To: Michele Miller; lbelleville at appalachiantrail.org
> Cc: klutz at appalachiantrail.org; wdhiker at optonline.net;
> Pamela_Underhill at nps.gov; bproudman at atconf.org;
> momland at appalachiantrail.org; AAPreston1 at aol.com;
> dspedden at dnr.state.md.us;
> tmccorkle at dnr.state.md.us; southmountaineers at yahoo.com
> Subject: Re: Ohio utility plans power line right through the midstate
>
> Hi -
>
> Check out the route map and other details at:
>
> http://www.aep.com/newsroom/intrastateProject.asp
>
> Looks to me like it will cross the Appalachian Trail on South
> Mountain in
> the general vicinity of Greenbrier or Washington State Park.
>
> Don
>
>
> Don Owen
> Environmental Protection Specialist
> Appalachian National Scenic Trail
> (deliveries: 31 High Street)
> P.O. Box 50
> Harpers Ferry, W.Va. 25425
> phone: (304) 535-4003
> fax: (304) 535-6270
> email: donald_owen at nps.gov
>
> __________________
> Mich et al -
>
> Please note the paragraph in the article that says:
>
>
> American Electric is billing its proposal as the first test of the
> Energy
> Policy Act of 2005, which gave the Federal Energy Regulatory
> Commission
> authority to override state and local opposition to transmission-line
> projects deemed to be "corridors of national interest." If states
> fail to
> approve such a line within a year, FERC can exercise eminent domain
> and
> force the line through.
>
>
> Don
>
>
>
> Don Owen
> Environmental Protection Specialist
> Appalachian National Scenic Trail
> (deliveries: 31 High Street)
> P.O. Box 50
> Harpers Ferry, W.Va. 25425
> phone: (304) 535-4003
> fax: (304) 535-6270
> email: donald_owen at nps.gov
>
> __________________
>
> Mich -
>
> Thanks. Just sent you another related article. Chances are, it
> would cross
> the A.T. somewhere in the mid-Atlantic Region, but I'm copying Laura
> Belleville anyway.
>
> Don
>
> Don Owen
> Environmental Protection Specialist
> Appalachian National Scenic Trail
> (deliveries: 31 High Street)
> P.O. Box 50
> Harpers Ferry, W.Va. 25425
> phone: (304) 535-4003
> fax: (304) 535-6270
> email: donald_owen at nps.gov
>
>
> |---------+---------------------------->
> | | "Michele Miller" |
> | | <mmiller at atconf.o|
> | | rg> |
> | | |
> | | 02/01/2006 09:35 |
> | | AM EST |
> |---------+---------------------------->
>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ------
> ------------------------------------|
> |
> |
> | To: <Donald_Owen at nps.gov>,
> <klutz at appalachiantrail.org>
> |
> | cc: <wdhiker at optonline.net>
> |
> | Subject: Ohio utility plans power line right through the
> midstate
> |
>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ------
> ------------------------------------|
>
>
>
>
>
> Don/Karen-This would have to cross the Trail somewhere.
>
> Walt-Please post to RPC. Thanks.
>
> Mich
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> |
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> (Embedded image moved to file: pic06120.gif)
>
> Ohio utility plans power line right through the
>
> midstate
>
> Wednesday, February 01, 2006
>
> BY DAVID DeKOK
>
> Of The Patriot-News
>
>
>
>
>
> American Electric Power of Columbus, Ohio, said
>
> yesterday it plans to build a mammoth
>
> electric-transmission line -- with towers more than
>
> 13 stories high -- that would cut through the
>
> midstate.
>
>
>
>
>
> The 550-mile aboveground line, which would have a
>
> 1,000-foot right of way, would connect American
>
> Electric's power plants in the West Virginia
>
> coalfields with the New Jersey market.
>
>
>
>
>
> In the 1980s, GPU Energy Inc. and Duquesne Light Co.
>
> tried unsuccessfully to build a 268-mile-long
>
> transmission line across Pennsylvania. That proposal
>
> was stopped by public opposition from farmers and
>
> other landowners on environmental, aesthetic and
>
> economic grounds. John Hanger, who was on the Public
>
> Utility Commission then and is now head of Penn
>
> Future, an environmental policy group, says to expect
>
> the same.
>
>
>
>
>
> "This will face enormous opposition unless they can
>
> figure out a route that uses existing rights of way,"
>
> he said. "Understandably, local people who are either
>
> near the line or will lose property will fight it."
>
>
>
>
>
> The line appears likely to pass through southern York
>
> County and the area just south and east of Lebanon.
>
> No final route has been selected, however. And maps
>
> released by American Electric and the office of PJM
>
> Interconnection -- which operates the regional power
>
> pool -- gave only general indications of where it
>
> would run. The electric company declined to be more
>
> specific.
>
>
>
>
>
> Melissa McHenry, a spokeswoman for American Electric,
>
> said the utility's engineers have identified a
>
> tentative route that closely parallels one devised by
>
> PJM Interconnection and called "Project Mountaineer."
>
> PJM Interconnection, based in Valley Forge, oversees
>
> a high-voltage electric system that serves 51 million
>
> people in 12 states, including Pennsylvania and the
>
> District of Columbia.
>
>
>
>
>
> Ray Dotter, a spokesman for PJM Interconnection, said
>
> American Electric, not PJM, will have the final say
>
> on what route the line follows. He said PJM's role is
>
> to fit the new line into the regional power grid.
>
> "This one happens to parallel one of the pathways we
>
> developed [as part of Project Mountaineer]," he said.
>
>
>
>
>
> Dotter said a new transmission line is the only way
>
> to get electricity produced by "clean coal"
>
> technology in West Virginia to where it is needed in
>
> New Jersey and elsewhere in the eastern part of the
>
> PJM territory.
>
>
>
>
>
> McHenry said American Electric has allotted three
>
> years for site approval and five years for
>
> construction. The $3 billion project is being
>
> financed by the company, but the utility would be
>
> open to partnerships with other utilities.
>
>
>
>
>
> The line would be 765 kilovolts -- the biggest power
>
> line that is built -- and would typically be carried
>
> by towers about 135 feet high, depending on terrain.
>
>
>
>
>
> That would be about 35 feet higher than the towers to
>
> carry 500 kilovolts, which was the size that GPU and
>
> Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Light had wanted to build.
>
>
>
>
>
> American Electric is billing its proposal as the
>
> first test of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which
>
> gave the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
>
> authority to override state and local opposition to
>
> transmission-line projects deemed to be "corridors of
>
> national interest." If states fail to approve such a
>
> line within a year, FERC can exercise eminent domain
>
> and force the line through.
>
>
>
>
>
> American Electric said the transmission line will
>
> relieve congestion in the power grid. That congestion
>
> cost customers of utilities in the PJM power pool
>
> nearly $1 billion in 2005, the company said, adding
>
> that it also forced use of more natural gas and
>
> oil-fired units to make electricity at peak periods.
>
>
>
>
>
> The proposed line would originate in Putnam County,
>
> W.Va., connect through Doubs Station in Frederick
>
> County, Md., and terminate at Deans Station in
>
> Middlesex County, N.J.
>
>
>
>
>
> From the map supplied by American Electric, the
>
> proposed line appears to come through southern York
>
> County, where real estate values have been climbing
>
> as more people build homes there to escape even
>
> higher prices in Maryland.
>
>
>
>
>
> American Electric also is likely to face regulatory
>
> unhappiness over the idea of creating new markets for
>
> electricity made by burning high-sulfur West Virginia
>
> coal. Hanger said that, while some Pennsylvania power
>
> plants are polluters, the state faces a significant
>
> problem with airborne pollution carried into the
>
> state from the south and west.
>
>
>
>
>
> "I would not want a transmission line to enable those
>
> [American Electric] plants, which are poorly
>
> controlled and more dirty, to ship power more
>
> efficiently," he said.
>
>
>
>
>
> DAVID DeKOK: 255-8173 or ddekok at patriot-news.com
>
>
>
> C2006 The Patriot-News
>
> C 2006 PennLive.com All Rights Reserved.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Michele Miller
> Associate Regional Representative
> Appalachian Trail Conservancy
> Mid-Atlantic Regional Office
> 4 East First Street
> P.O. Box 625
> Boiling Springs, PA 17007
> Phone: (717) 258-5771
> Fax: (717) 258-1482
>
> The Appalachian Trail Conservancy is a volunteer-based nonprofit
> organization dedicated to the conservation of the 2,175-mile
> Appalachian
> National Scenic Trail, a 250,000-acre greenway extending from Maine to
> Georgia. Our mission is to ensure that future generations will
> enjoy the
> clean air and water, scenic vistas, wildlife and opportunities for
> recreation and renewal along the entire Trail corridor. To become a
> member,
> call 304.535.6331, ext. 119, or visit our Web site at
> www.appalachiantrail.org. There, you will also find volunteer
> opportunities
> and general hiking information.
>
> _______________________________________________
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