Can someone forward this announcement to the appropriate people in the Maryland Chapter? We should definitely have a presence at these meetings, and involving the MD Chapter early will be important.
A couple of notes regarding process.
I attended some of these "open house" meetings regarding TrAIL in fall, 2006. The format involved a series of tables around a large room with representatives taking comments on site-specific routing issues. But the process was clearly designed to channel the public into accepting the line as a "fait accompli" rather than provide an open debate. There was no opportunity to challenge the assumption that the line was needed, or that Demand-Side Management was a legitimate alternative.
In my technical comments to the WV Public Service Commission, I repeatedly challenged this approach as NOT being an adequate public involvement process, but instead was designed to obstruct legitimate public involvement. I argued that a legitimate process would allow all alternatives to be debated, and that the public should be able to hear all points of view, not just those of the Company and PJM.
TrAILCo's response was that I should have made these points in writing to TrAILCo, not wait for the PSC hearings. I do not think this was a significant issue for the WV-PSC, but it would be useful to get this "On the Record" as early as possible, and not let the utilities get away with manipulating the public input process to their advantage.
JBK
"Grubb, Karen" Karen.Grubb@fairmontstate.edu 6/5/2008 1:27 AM >>>
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From: MJLippe@aol.com [mailto:MJLippe@aol.com] Sent: Wed 6/4/2008 2:26 PM To: WVBiker98@aol.com; bellamy@frontiernet.net; nhooff@somersetdev.com; tbusithi@shepherd.edu Cc: Grubb, Karen Subject: Fwd: PATH Web Site Contact Form
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From: taholliday@aep.com To: mjlippe@aol.com Sent: 6/4/2008 2:14:47 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time Subj: Re: PATH Web Site Contact Form
Hello Mr. Lippe,
We appreciate your interest in the PATH project. We're in the process of preparing for two initial informational meetings that will take place in Maryland on June 17 and 18. I've provided the information below. We'll be publishing notices of the meetings in local newspapers and on radio stations in the very near future. These first two meetings will provide general information about the project, but the meetings will not feature specific line routes at this time, as the companies are currently studying routing alternatives.
Frederick County Holiday Inn and Conference Center (adjacent to Francis Scott Key Mall) 5400 Holiday Drive Frederick, MD * June 17th * 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Washington County The American Legion-Post 10 710 North Main Street Boonsboro, MD * June 18th * 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
We also plan to hold a series of open houses in late July and early August throughout the West Virginia and Maryland study area to present preliminary siting alternatives and to solicit feedback from area residents. Specific dates, locations and times for those meetings have not been finalized yet.
I hope this is helpful.
Sincerely,
Thomas A. Holliday, APR Director Corporate Communications American Electric Power 1 Riverside Plaza - 19th Fl. Columbus, OH 43215-2373 PH: (614) 716-1403 aud. 222 Email: taholliday@aep.com
06/04/2008 12:15 To PM askpath@pathtransmission.com cc jpolk@aep.com Subject PATH Web Site Contact Form
PATH Web Site Contact Form ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Michael Lippe E-mail: mjlippe@aol.com Phone #: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comment: Please advise me the schedule and places for your public meetings or surveys for deciding on issues for the routing of PATH, particularly from Bedington to Kemptown. Thank you!
Message sent: 6/4/2008 12:15:36 PM