Frederick wants say on PATH

Recommend This Print This Get E-mail News Alerts Buy Photos/Page Reprints * Breaking News If local news is breaking and you know about it: * Call Us: 800-296-5137 * E-mail Us * Upload Your Photos

County seeks state OK to present its case regarding construction of power line

By J.R. Williams -- jrwilliams@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- The Frederick County Board of Supervisors has filed to participate in state regulators' consideration of the high-voltage power line project known as PATH.

County Attorney Roderick B. Williams recently submitted a request to the State Corporation Commission that gives the county the right to present argument to regulators, who ultimately will decide whether the project can be built.

The $2.1 billion, 765-kilovolt Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline is projected to run from the Amos substation near St. Albans, W.Va., through Frederick, Clarke and Loudoun counties in Virginia to the proposed Kemptown substation in Frederick County, Md.

About 31 of 275 miles of line is proposed to cut through Frederick County, Va. A joint project between Allegheny Energy and American Electric Power, PATH is supported by regional grid operator PJM Interconnection. Project backers say the line is needed to address reliability concerns for the regional power grid.

The project has come under scrutiny from environmental organizations, local residents and the board, which is publicly opposed to its construction and submitted critical testimony to the SCC in a previous PATH application that eventually was withdrawn. A new application was filed in September.

Frederick County "is vitally interested in the outcome of these proceedings and anticipates questioning the alleged need for the proposed facilities and services that the facilities will provide," Williams' letter to the SCC says.

Supervisors Chairman Richard C. Shickle and Virginia Del. Beverly Sherwood also have filed requests to move the SCC's local public hearing from John Handley High School to either Gainesboro or Stonewall elementary schools.

Those schools are closer to affected landowners, Shickle says.

A time and date has not been set for the local public hearing, according to Ken Schrad, SCC spokesman, although it likely will occur in February.

Frederick County joins more than a dozen people and organizations who have filed to participate. Many local residents used a template provided by Citizens Against PATH, a Frederick County group. The Sierra Club and Piedmont Environmental Council also filed notice.

Regulators will hear testimony from the applicants and participants in Richmond during a hearing on April 25, 2011. Audio from the hearing will be broadcast live on the SCC website, scc.virginia.gov.

Written comments must be submitted before April 18.

The project is separate from a proposal to rebuild an existing 44-year-old, 500-kilovolt line from the Mount Storm substation in Grant County, W.Va., to the Doubs substation in Maryland.

Dominion Virginia Power briefed supervisors recently on plans to completely rebuild the 96-mile power line, which has 20 miles of local footprint.

That project also must be approved by state regulators.