STOP PATH Event in Charleston March 11th

In connection with the WV Environmental Council's annual E-day! events on March 11th, WV E-Council, WV Citizens Against PATH (CAP) and other organizations and interested individuals will be sponsoring a late afternoon rally and informational meeting in opposition to the proposed PATH electricity transmission line. PATH is an acronym for Potomac-Allegheny Transmission Highline.   

PATH is a proposed joint venture between American Electric Power Company (AEP) of Columbus, Ohio and Allegheny Energy Company of Greensburg, PA.  PATH, if approved by regulatory agencies and constructed, would be a giant 765 Kilovolt electrical power transmission line that would run 290 miles from AEP’s John Amos power plant substation near St. Albans, W.Va., to a new substation near Frederick, MD. 

PATH would include a right-of-way swath 200 feet wide through farms and forests and other public and private properties, across up to a dozen or more WV counties, and through the state's eastern panhandle into Virginia and Maryland. The apparent purpose of PATH is to transfer coal fueled electricity from the Ohio Valley to eastern cities near the Atlantic coast.

Strong local citizen opposition to PATH has developed over several months, with STOP PATH rallies and informational meetings held or soon to be held in almost every county through which PATH would pass. 

The STOP PATH rally in Charleston on E-day! will be held at the same location as the WVEC E-day! dinner and awards ceremony- at the Charleston Women's Club at the corner of Elizabeth Street and Virginia Street East, less than two blocks from the state capital building.  The E-day! Charleston STOP PATH rally will be held from 3:30 PM until 5:00 or 5:15 PM.    

So if you would like to learn how to effectively work to STOP PATH, get a STOP PATH yard sign, or just learn more about PATH, then attend the STOP PATH rally at 3:30 Wednesday.  We will talk about things like petitions against PATH, writing letters to the WV Public Service Commission (PSC) about PATH, and about how individuals and / or organizations can become an actual legally opposing party, called an intervener, once the PATH application is actually filed at the PSC.         

WV Citizens Against PATH will have a STOP PATH informational table in the capital building rotunda on E-day, with maps, signature petitions against PATH and other information.

For further information or to offer to help with the Charleston STOP PATH rally, contact Frank Young, e-mail fyoung@mountain.net, or by telephone 304-372-3945.