This is the contact information on our Treasurer for questions on
your gift.
Chapter Treasurer Mary Davis, 599-6384, mdavis@wvu.edu
We are making progress on fundraising and have identified several
expert witnesses, so we are feeling positive at present.
As for an intervention on PATH, that would be up to the Sierra Club
and whether we would have the funding to mount another intervention after this
one for TrAIL Co. It will also depend on how this intervention
goes. To my knowledge Path has not yet applied to the PSC.
If TrAIL is defeated, I think it would be easier to stop
PATH. Here are the public hearings on TrAIL. Since those of us from
this area will probably not make the hearing in Moorefield, it could be helpful
for you to recruit people from your area to go to that hearing.
1. On October 23, 2007, at 1:30 pm and again at 6:30 pm, in the
Erickson Alumni Center, West Virginia University, Fine Arts and Patteson Drive,
Morgantown, West Virginia.
2. On October 24, 2007, at 1:30 pm and again at 6:30 pm, in the Reception Room,
1"' Floor, Taylor County Senior Citizens, Inc., at the intersection of US
Routes 119 and 250 South in Grafton, West Virginia.
3. On October 29, 2007, at 1:30 pm and again at 6:30 pm, in the Spruce Room,
Canaan Valley Resort & Conference Center, Route 32 North, Canaan Valley,
Davis, West Virginia.
4. On October 30, 2007, at 1:30 pm and again at 6:30 pm, in the Conference
Room, South Branch Inn, 1500 US Route 220 North, Moorefield, West Virginia.
5. On November 28 and 29, 2007, beginning at 9:00 am on both days,
in the HMC Hearing Room, Public Service Commission Building, 201 Brooks Street, Charleston, West Virginia.
Thank you,
Karen
From:
MJLippe@aol.com [mailto:MJLippe@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007
11:34 AM
To: Grubb, Karen
Cc: jkotcon@wvu.edu; brbr_fallon@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Allegheny Power
Transmission Lines
Sorry for the delay on this. I am in the process of
instructing my Donor Advised Fund, the Michael Lippe Charitable Fund to send
you a check for $250.00. They may want to contact the West Virginia
Chapter of the Sierra Club concerning certain details. Could you give me
the chapter's phone number and the person with whom they should talk, in
case they have to do this? Thanks!
I should tell you that with regard to PATH, I have written to our
Congresswoman, Shelly Moore Capito, who responded by saying that she forwarded
my letter of concern to the WV PSC. I have also talked with the Antietem
National Battlefield Director (across the Potomac River in Maryland), who said that
they had mobilized and were fighting the proposed PATH route in Maryland and through their national offices of the National Park
Service and he seemed guardedly optimistic that at least the lines would
not be put through the National Battlefield. The Jefferson County
Planning Commission has also apparently weighed in with the WV PSC against the
PATH proposal.
You mentioned that you were going to contact your attorney,
Bill DePaulo, about a possible intervention concerning PATH. I wondered
if you had heard anything back from him. When I wrote to Allegheny Power,
they responded that the final route had not been determined, so I am not sure
whether that means that a formal application is still to be made or whether the
application has been made, but everything is still in process.
Thank you and please let me know how everything is going.
In a message dated 9/29/2007 1:50:00 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
kgrubb@fairmontstate.edu writes:
I will forward your question about including PATH in our
intervention to our attorney, Bill DePaulo. I don't believe that PATH has
been submitted to PSC yet, so I don't know if it can be brought up at the
Intervention. Here is the fundraising information you requested.
This is a fight we cannot afford to lose. The expenses are many:
expert witnesses who will substantiate these and related arguments, our travel
to PSC meetings, educational materials, copying, faxing, and possibly extensive
litigation. These are all beyond the West Virginia Chapter’s funds.
Thus far, we have secured some funds from National Sierra Smart Energy
Solutions, and Environmental Law Program, the WV Highlands Conservancy, and
private citizens. We are working with the Sierra Club Office of Foundations
and Corporate Relations for additional funds. Expert witness costs alone
can easily amount to tens of thousands of dollars.
A donation from you will help protect West Virginia. For tax-deductible donations, please make checks payable to “The Sierra Club
Foundation,” and on the Memo line of the check write “WV Chapter.”
Do not write anything on the check about “Trail” or “Energy.” The
Sierra Club Foundation is tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal
Revenue Code, and gifts to The Foundation are tax-deductible under Section
170(b)(1)(A)(vi) of the Code. IRS regulations require that you retain a written
acknowledgement from The Foundation to support your claim of a tax deduction. A
receipt of your gift will be mailed to you shortly. The Foundation confirms
that you received no goods or services in return for your gift.
Please send your donation to:
Sierra Club, West Virginia Chapter
P. O. Box 4142
Morgantown, WV
26504
Be sure to
include your return address so we can send you a tax-deductible
receipt. Thank You.
Barbara Fallon, WV Chapter, Energy Committee Chair
Karen Grubb, WV Chapter, Conservation Chair
From:
MJLippe@aol.com [mailto:MJLippe@aol.com]
Sent: Sat 9/29/2007 10:29 AM
To: Grubb, Karen
Cc: jkotcon@wvu.edu
Subject: Re: Allegheny Power
Transmission Lines
Thank you for this information. I am wondering whether it is possible for
the Sierra Club to specifically include and make reference to both the PATH and
TRAIL proposals in its testimony before the WV PSC. As well as the
potential route going right through our National Conservation Training Center,
which Senator Byrd worked so hard to get funded, it is also apparently going to
go through Antietem Battlefield in Maryland, which would have a devastating
impact on this well-protected national treasure.
I agree with you 100% concerning the need for the companies
to make a more compelling case on the need for this line in the first place. We
are talking with the Jefferson County planning officials about this, but so far
they are saying it is a State level matter, not something they will jump
in on, which is too bad.
Please advise where contributions for this fight should be sent.
In a message dated 9/17/2007 12:39:02 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
kgrubb@fairmontstate.edu writes:
Yes PATH is the other southern line I was referring to. But
since, as the attached email says, this line will go to New Jersey, it could go
through Jefferson County.
I believe the electric lines are up to the PSC, although if the
local commission and your representatives in Charleston come out against it,
that could carry some weight with PSC. Unfortunately, our governor mostly
seems to favor the lines since that means WV will sell more coal. If
NIETC if approved by Congress, what the states say may not matter, as the
federal government would have the power of eminent domain. NIETC includes
the whole top half of WV, and states north and east of it. This federal
designation is what has given Allegheny and American Electric the impetus to
propose these power lines.
Karen:
I think you are correct, the Allegheny TrAIL project
was at first proposed as indicated, but has since been changed to the current
more southern route.
The other project to watch is the joint AE-AEP
765-kv line (PATH) from the John Amos plant near Charleston to somewhere in New
Jersey. If TrAIL is approved, I suspect that PATH will be next.
Furthermore, if the NIETC is approved, Jefferson County could easily be in the
route for this or other lines. Hence, stopping TrAIL is important, even
if this particular line is not in your back yard.
JBK
From:
MJLippe@aol.com [mailto:MJLippe@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2007
9:09 AM
To: Grubb, Karen
Subject: Re: Allegheny Power
Transmission Lines
Dear Karen,
I am going to try and follow up this week to see where this stands
with the local county planning commission. Do they have any jurisdiction
over this, to your knowledge, or would it all be up to the WV Public Service
Commission?
You mentioned an NIETC. Do you know if this includes
Jefferson and Berkeley Counties, I
assume it does, and whether it includes anything that Allegheny wants to do
anywhere in it?
In a message dated 9/16/2007 7:25:06 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
kgrubb@fairmontstate.edu writes:
Dear Mr. Lippe,
In looking at your attachment, I see it is dated March 6,
2006. I believe that the proposed route has been changed to the more
southern route and no longer is planned to go through part of Maryland and Jefferson
County. I have also heard that Allegheny Power is avoiding all federal
lands along the route. http://www.marstellerclientarea.com/Trail_Map/TRAIL_Map_animation.html
I will consult with our Energy Committee to see if they have more
information I can give you. The actual eastern NIETC covers at least 2/3
of WV (Mid-Atlantic Area National Corridor includes counties in Ohio, West
Virginia, Pennsylvania,
New York, Maryland, Virginia, and all of New Jersey, Delaware, and
the District of Columbia.). The Allegheny TrAIL is the actual proposed
route of one transmission line, with another being proposed much farther south
in WV by American Electric Power.
http://www.oe.energy.gov/DocumentsandMedia/4.26.07_National_Corridors.pdf
The WV Sierra Club is fighting all additional power lines,
regardless of where they are placed. We welcome your help and
involvement. We are currently conducting a funding drive to collect money
to pay for expert witness testimony for our intervention against Allegheny
Power with the WV Public Service Commission.
Karen Grubb
WV Sierra Conservation Chair
From:
MJLippe@aol.com [mailto:MJLippe@aol.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2007
10:02 PM
To: Grubb, Karen
Subject: Allegheny Power
Transmission Lines
There was a recent article in the Shepherdstown Chronicle about an
Allegheny Power request for designation of a National Interest Electric
Transmission Corridor to go through the Eastern Panhandle and Jefferson County,
apparently quite near to where we live. Looking at the rough map on the
proposal, which I downloaded at http://www.oe.energy.gov/DocumentsandMedia/allegheny.pdf,
it appears that the corridor might go through the nearby National Conservation
Training Center (where there is a pair of nesting bald eagles) and
then cross the Potomac very near if not through Antietem National Battlefield
Park.
When I started to look this up, I quickly came to your site and
the battle concerning the transmission lines being planned, apparently along
another route, further to the South.
I am assuming that the two corridors are not related, at least
geographically, but am not sure and am wondering whether the Sierra Club has
looked into the issues concerning the Eastern Panhandle corridor.
Thank you for any light you can shed on this and any assistance
you can provide in directing me in the right direction to try and find out more
about all of this. Perhaps needless to say, we are quite worried
about the implications of this proposal.