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 line near Damascus. [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, approved plans for the line in June, saying it would improve the flow of power in the mid-Atlantic region.

Yesterday, American Electric Power 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 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 and West Virginia.