Three Weeks, Two Nervous Utilities & One Website to Hear it All

Dear Duane,

After three witness packed weeks, the Virginia transmission line hearings have come to a close. Since I last wrote we have heard from expert witnesses for PEC, Virginia's Commitment, Fauquier County, Prince William County, the Powerline Landowners Alliance, Oakwood et al, VDOT and the SCC staff. The cumulative expertise provided by these groups is unparalleled.
Listen to the Testimony on the SCC Website

Sic Semper Transmission?
There was more testimony than I can possibly summarize in email format, so I'd like to touch on some of the major takeaways.

Dominion and TrAILCo's entire case is based on assumptions that are woefully inadequate and unrealistic.
There was a lot, I mean a lot of testimony regarding the planning assumptions dictated by PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator. PJM and Dominion ask you to accept that all of their models are reasonable and accurate. You must next assume that the growth of the past few years will continue unabated, energy conservation will never be more than it has been in the past and that efficiency is always outpaced by greater usage. You must also assume that planned generation projects that contribute to the identified problem should be modeled, while those that contribute to the solution should not be modeled. And finally, you must assume that business-as-usual should be continued while the world around us changes.
There is a very real negative impact to building this line.
This line will cost over a billion dollars to construct, make the east coast more dependent on distant (and largely coal-fired) generation, make it less cost-effective to build clean generation on the east coast, require clear-cutting of forests, increased use of herbicides, ruin public viewsheds in three states and impact property values along the entire 240-mile long route.
There is a better way.
It was very clear from the testimony that neither PJM, Dominion or TrAILCo analyzed viable alternatives to building this line. Together, the witnesses from various groups showed that a combination of demand side reduction, clean and appropriately placed distributed generation and realistic planning will allow essential services to remain cost-effective and reliable. To use the words of Virginia's Commitment attorney Michael Gerrard, PJM and Dominion "put all of their eggs in one basket and never came up with a Plan B".

Time to Write the Best Brief Ever
Our legal briefs will be due in early May. The brief is an argument of law referencing the record that has developed over the course of the proceeding. The Hearing Examiner will review briefs, as well as the public testimony, pre-filed testimony of expert witnesses and transcripts from the hearings. He will then come up with a recommendation for the SCC Commissioners regarding whether to approve or deny the transmission line applications. A final decision by the Commissioners is expected some time this Summer or Fall.

TrAILCo heads to Pittsburgh for the beginning of their case in Pennsylvania on March 24. And we are all awaiting the West Virginia Public Service Commission ruling. They are scheduled to make their final decision on May 2. Needless to say, May 2 is going to be a big day for all of us.

Thank You for Making this Case Possible
I would once again like to thank all of you who have supported us (or any of the Respondents) and stayed vigilant throughout this long process. A utility has never faced opposition like this before. If you are able to listen to only one day of the hearing, I would encourage you to listen to PEC's engineering witness Dr. Hyde Merrill, his testimony can be found here and begins at minute 16:15 of the audio file.

Best,

Bri West
Piedmont Environmental Council
pecnews@pecva.org

ps: None of this happens without you. We need your continued support to keep this up.

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