POWER LINE, Washington Post, August 23, 2007.
____________________________________ Joint Venture Created For W.Va.-Md. Project
____________________________________ Two utilities finalized a joint venture yesterday to build a high-voltage transmission line that would carry electricity 290 miles from West Virginia into Western Maryland and end just shy of the _Montgomery County_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Montgomery+County+(Maryland)...) line near _Damascus_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Damascus?tid=informline) . [The starting location is to be the John Amos power plant sub-station, near St. Albans, WV...dgn] At 765,000 volts, the $1.8 billion line would have the highest capacity in the country, carrying enough electricity to power an estimated 2.5 million homes. The operator of the electricity grid serving the East Coast, _PJM Interconnection_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/PJM+Interconnection+LLC?tid=...) , approved plans for the line in June, saying it would improve the flow of power in the mid-Atlantic region. Yesterday, _American Electric Power_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/American+Electric+Power+Co.+...) and Allegheny Energy announced that they have created a joint venture holding company, Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline LLC, to build the line. [Can be called the "PATH line"............dgn.] The holding company plans to file with the _Federal Energy Regulatory Commission_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Federal+Energy+Regulatory+Co...) this fall to set rates to recover the costs of the project. The company also will begin studying potential routes and assessing environmental impacts over the next year. Once a route is determined, the company will seek approval from state regulators in _Maryland_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Maryland?tid=informline) and _West Virginia_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/West+Virginia?tid=informline) .
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