[MA-RPC] FW: Ohio utility plans power line right through the midstate

Thu Feb 2 22:59:32 EST 2006

  _____  

From: Brian B. King [mailto:bking at appalachiantrail.org] 
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 5:41 PM
To: Karen Lutz; Don Owen - NPS; Michele Miller; Laura Belleville
Cc: wdhiker at optonline.net; Pam Underhill; Bob Proudman; Mari Omland
Subject: RE: Ohio utility plans power line right through the midstate

Here are some more links, the first being a simple map that suggests a
possible second crossing up near Allentown.

http://w2.ydr.com/nmf/db-ref/files-db/650.pdf

http://www.ydr.com/newsfull/ci_3468044

http://www.energyonline.com/news/articles/Articlefor020206.asp

      brian

-----Original Message-----
From: Karen Lutz [mailto:klutz at appalachiantrail.org] 
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 2:56 PM
To: Don Owen - NPS; Michele Miller; Laura Belleville
Cc: wdhiker at optonline.net; Pam Underhill; Bob Proudman; Mari Omland; Brian
B. King
Subject: RE: Ohio utility plans power line right through the midstate

Based on the map that was in the Harrisburg Snooze, it looks like its going

cross near.....Harpers Ferry.  The article can be viewed at

http://www.pennlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/1138789374255990.xml?pen

nnews&coll=1#continue  but I was not able to view the map.  Of interest is

the author, David DeKok.  The same fellow who wrote "Trail of Fear" series

back in early '90's.

Karen L. Lutz

Regional Director

Appalachian Trail Conservancy - Mid-Atlantic Region

PO Box 625

Boiling Springs, PA 17007

717.258.5771

717.258.1442 (fax)

717.580.4247 (cell)

-----Original Message-----

From: Donald_Owen at nps.gov [mailto:Donald_Owen at nps.gov] 

Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 10:54 AM

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

Subject: Re: Ohio utility plans power line right through the midstate

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

                                                      |

 Web Bug from cid:image001.gif at 01C62712.CBA94300

     (Embedded image moved to file: pic21229.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.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nynjtc.org/mailman/private/ma-rpc/attachments/20060202/f1a7757a/attachment-0001.html