Route for PATH
Causes Static
Morgan residents
voice concern over proposed power line
By Jenni Vincent / Journal Staff Writer
POSTED: August
15, 2008
Editor's note:
An article with the response of electric utility officials who attended Thursday
night's open house on the proposed Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline is
scheduled to be published in Saturday's edition of The
Journal.
BERKELEY SPRINGS
- Citizen activist Jerry Berman was constantly busy at Thursday night's
informational session on the proposed Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline,
handing out cards to others who share his concerns about the new high-voltage
power line.
"You
know, the electric utilities may have thought that they could just schedule this
meeting at the last minute and slip it through - that no one living here would
have much to say about this power line," Berman said.
"But
they thought wrong. We are not going to the take the path of least resistance,
we're not going to take the PATH at all," he said, pausing as he gestured toward
a large pile of cards filled out by people asking for additional information on
the power line.
Berman,
who was wearing a name card that read "Citizens Against PATH," wasn't the only
citizen protesting at the event.
Organizers said
people started arriving well before the event officially began at 5 p.m. The
Homestead Restaurant - where the open house took place - was quickly filled up
and folks parked all the way down the long driveway to where it meets U.S.
522.
There
was a line of residents waiting to enter the restaurant, with many people
waiting 45 minutes or more outside as they waited their
turn.
Abby
Chapple of the Friends of the
Working
together, the pair urged dozens of folks to sign an online petition against the
proposed power line that would run from St. Albans, near
It
would then continue from Bedington to a new substation to be built at Kemptown,
southeast of
PATH,
at an estimated cost of $1.8 billion, is a joint venture by Allegheny Energy and
American Electric Power.
Chapple, former
president and current vice president/treasurer of the Friends of the
"The
way it may go up along the west side of
"Also
Route 9 is the Washington Heritage Trail, so it is historic and they shouldn't
be allowed to impact that in any way," she said. "Beyond that, all the way over
to Sidling Hill, it will impact the viewshed and be absolutely a
disaster."
If a
new power line is constructed, the "corridor" of an existing line should be
used, Chapple said.
"We are
going to demand that PATH stay on its present path. No new path for PATH," she
said.
Although pleased
with Thursday night's response, Chapple said that she's working to get 5,000
signatures, "to show the company that we know what's going on with their
proposal."
The
online petition can be found at www.thepetitionsite.com. Under search petitions, "PATH" can be
typed in, in order to find the one sponsored by Friends of the
Close
by on Thursday, protester Laura Steepleton of Berkeley Springs held a sign that
read "Keep West Virginia Wild and Wonderful."
Steepleton said
she has a wide range of concerns, including the proposed power line's impact on
nature as well as people's homes.
She
agreed that it represents a potential threat to the
"And I
can't help but have my concerns about the electromagnetic field associated with
a high-voltage line like this one," she said. "They say it's no more than your
household appliance but I have a hard time believing
that."
Vernon
Estel, Allegheny Energy's director of transmission projects, said it is
important to remember that no final decisions have been made on PATH's
route.
His
counterpart, Ron Poff of American Electric Power, said that might not happen
until late this year.
The
utility officials hope to file an application with the state Public Service
Commission, including the "preferred route," in December.
"But
the final decision, including the route for PATH, will be up to the commission
members," Poff said.