All:
If you are planning to attend any of the public hearings on PATH, it is recommended that you speak as individuals, rather than as representing the Club. It is important that members testify as individuals, AND that you mention that you are a Sierra Club member who is affected by PATH, and how you personally will be affected. (i.e., you live nearby, you will have scenic impacts in areas where you recreate, you live downwind of the power plants that will supply the line, you live near coal mines that supply coal to supply the line, you have children that will face global warming issues that will be exacerbated because of the PATH line, etc.).
But the PSC has ruled that intervenor testimony won't be accepted at public hearings and it is critical that we serve all other intervenors with any official testimony on behalf of the Club.
Go to the hearings, speak out, but do it carefully.
Jim Kotcon
PM >>>
See below. Do you know if any Sierra Club members are planning on testifying? We would want them only to testify on their own behalf as individual citizens, not as representatives of Sierra Club, but they can mention that they are members.
Elena Saxonhouse Sierra Club Environmental Law Program 85 Second St., 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 977-5765 (415) 977-5793 (fax) ----- Forwarded by Elena Saxonhouse/Sierraclub on 09/22/2009 04:04 PM -----
wburns@burnslegal.net 09/22/2009 04:03 PM Please respond to wburns@burnslegal.net
To "William V. DePaulo" william.depaulo@gmail.com, "Abigail Dillen" adillen@earthjustice.org, "Elena K. Saxonhouse" elena.saxonhouse@sierraclub.org, "Willard R. Burns" wburns@burnslegal.net cc Subject Fw: Public Hearings Set
Bill:
You should consider having some of the Sierra Club members who will be directly affected by the PATH line testify at some of the public input hearings to ensure that the record shows the SC has standing - i.e. have SC members testify that they are SC members and how they will be directly affected (going through or near their property, rate increases, viewshed, their kids or they use the area or play nearby, etc.).
Wil Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
-----Original Message----- From: Patience Wait waitp@stoppathwv.com
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:39:05 To: wburns@burnslegal.net Subject: Public Hearings Set
To all our friends helping us try to STOP THE PATH PROJECT:
The West Virginia Public Service Commission has scheduled two days of hearings in Jefferson County next week.
PATH will disrupt hundreds of people's lives in Jefferson County, and many more elsewhere in West Virginia. Our rates will go up, but we will get none of the electricity. Electricity demand is dropping, but the power companies want to push it through anyhow because they'll make a guaranteed 14.3% profit! It will continue - even expand - the use of coal to generate electricity, even though states up and down the East Coast are trying to increase investment in renewable resources. And despite the power companies' advertising, it WILL NOT strengthen the grid - if anything, long-distance transmission makes the grid more unreliable, according to testimony before Congress in 2008!!
If you want to express your views on the Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline project, these hearings (and others scheduled around the state) are your only chance to participate and make your feelings known!
The hearings are scheduled for the Frank Arts Center, on the west campus of Shepherd University. The schedule is:
Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 12:30 and 6:30 Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 8:30 a.m.
The 140 intervenors in the case from Jefferson County - including the Jefferson County Commission - are not allowed to testify. So it's up to all the other citizens of the county to show up and give voice to your opposition to this project.
Go to www.stoppathwv.com for more information and to find many of the arguments against PATH. You also can check out http://calhounpowerline.wordpress.com for a great summary of information on the case!
If you have family, friends, co-workers who still don't know about PATH, we're holding a Citizens Information Meeting this Sunday, Sept. 20, at the Sam Michaels Park community center from 3-5 p.m. We will have maps and handouts that show everything that's wrong with this project - wrong for Jefferson County, wrong for West Virginia, and wrong for the country!
We send our heartfelt thanks to the many individuals who have donated to StopPATH WV Inc. We are in desperate need of funds to pay for expert witnesses and legal fees to help stop PATH from destroying our community. Please consider making a donation to our fight, no matter how small. Checks can be made payable to StopPATH WV Inc. and mailed to P.O. Box 203, Shepherdstown, WV 25443. We appreciate your generosity and spirit of community as we all come together to perserve our environment, health, safety, property values, historic and cultural resources, property rights and the very character of our community.
"Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together." - Vesta M. Kelly
Patience Wait and Keryn Newman
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