To: MVCAC members, friends, participants, and others...........
The next meeting of the MVCAC will be at 7 pm on Monday, October 24th at the
home of Larry and Martha Schwab, 3333 Collins Ferry Road, Morgantown. This
will be a special meeting, for the purpose of discussing the Longview
Announcement below and to encourage and support letter writing in response to this
Announcement.
Please bring your own paper, pen and envelope to the meeting! This meeting
will be chaired by Paula Hunt, who can be contacted at:
_pjhunt(a)xemaps.com_ (mailto:pjhunt@xemaps.com)
The Announcement appeared in the Dominion Post on Thursday, October 13th,
and is scheduled to reappear this Thursday, October 20th, as a Class II
classified advertisement. According to this Announcement only 15 days is provided
to respond; so, urgent action is recommended and requested.
Areas of concern are whether these high voltage transmission lines will pass
near or over metallic objects as conveyor belt systems, train tracks,
trucking roads, or near homes or farm animals. There is concern as to whether this
is a private project, given the PILOT tax break, to involvement of the
County Commission as the owner of last resort, and possible federal and state
participation in specific aspects as, for example, the water supply system in
Pennsylvania.
Since this proposed new plant will share transmission lines with the Ft.
Martin and other existing plants, does Longview not need to demonstrate that
they have the plant capacity, equipment, and know how to protect the
transmission grid system from electrical interactions that could result in outages,
brownouts, line failures, or switching control problems. Otherwise this plant
will be a burden on the electricity customers of West Virginia.
Remaining issues with the "siting certificate" include the noise that the
plant will generate, the visibility problem due to the plant being seen from
any high location in the County (viewshed problem) and the large vapor plumes
generated by the 20 forced draft cooling fans. It remains to be demonstrated
whether this proposed Longview plant is financially viable; and, whether
there remains a significant demand for the electricity outside of West Virginia.
An examination of this Announcement may demonstrate that significant
information is not given to the public, that complete information is necessary and
more time needed so that each of us as affected citizens can have a
sufficiently good understanding as to provide reasonably accurate and complete
responses to the PSC. It would then be reasonable to have a public information
meeting in Morgantown, and a public hearing to gather appropriate input for the
PSC.
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010358
October 13, 20
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
OF WEST VIRGINIA
CHARLESTON
Entered by the PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OF WEST VIRGINIA in the City of
Charleston on the 7th day of October 2005.
CASE NO. 05-1467-E-CN
LONGVIEW POWER, LLC
Application of Longview Power, LLC, for a Certificate
of Public Convenience and Necessity Authorizing the
Construction and Installation of a 500 KV electric transmission
line and to Satisfy Conditional Siting Certificate for Exempt
Wholesale Generating Facility in Monongalia County, West Virginia
NOTICE OF FILING
On September 30, 2005, Longview Power, LLC, whose address is 1040 Great
Plain Avenue, Neeham, Massachusetts 02492-2517 (the Applicant) filed an
application for a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity pursuant to W.Va. Code
ss24-2-11a to construct and operate a high voltage transmission line in
Monongalia County. The applicant and exhibits are available for public inspection at
the Commission’s offices at 201 Brooks Street, Charleston. Upon its
completion, the transmission line will be used by the Applicant to transport
electricity to the grid for the competitive wholesale market in West Virginia and
other locations.
The Applicant proposes to construct a 500 kV electric transmission line to
interconnect its electric generating facility to the Allegheny Power 750 kV
Kammer Fort Martin transmission line near Morgantown, Monongalia County.
Longview will construct a new 500 kV Substation in Greene County, Pennsylvania.
The Applicant estimates that construction of the transmission line will
cost less than fifty million dollars ($50,000,000).
Neither the Facility nor the transmission line is a public facility
providing service to the public and there will be no impact to West Virginia
Ratepayers. Rates charged for electricity sol by the Facility will be subject to
regulation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) pursuant to
Section 205 of the Federal Power Act. Longview intends to file a market-based
rate schedule with FERC that will allow sales from the Facility to be at
negotiated rates.
The Applicant will be the entity responsible for the construction and
operation of the transmission lines.
The Applicant will enter into an interconnection and operating agreement
with PJM which will govern the Facility’s interconnection at the new
Substation. The Applicant, of the purchasers of the electricity generated by the
Facility, will enter into transmission service-agreements with Allegheny to govern
the transmission of the electricity across Allegheny’s facilities. Such
transmission of electricity will be subject to the terms of PJM’s Open Access
Transmission Tariff on file with the FERC. The transmission line will not
compete with other utilities and will be for the sole purpose of transmitting the
electricity generated at the Facility into the grid for the wholesale
market. The black dashes on the above map indicates the location of the corridor
in which the transmission line will be located.
WHEREAS, Longview Power, LLC, asserts it is not a public utility within the
meaning of W.Va. Code ss24-2-11 and requests a waiver of the Public Service
Commission’s filing requirements to provide certain information including
proposed rates, project construction costs, project financing and estimates of
operating revenues and expenses, and the information required by Tariff Rule
42. Other waivers of information filings are also sought.
Pursuant to ss24-2-11a, West Virginia Code, IT IS ORDERED that the Longview
Power, LLC give notice of the filing of said application, by publishing a
copy as a Class II legal advertisement, two times in a newspaper duly qualified
by the Secretary of State, published and of general circulation in
Monongalia County, and in Kanawha County, making due return to this Commission of
proper certification of publication immediately after publication. Anyone
desiring to protest or intervene should file a written protest or notice of
intervention within 15 days following the second publication date unless otherwise
modified by Commission order. Failure to timely protest or intervene can
affect your right to protest aspects of this certificate case or to participate
in future proceedings. All protests or requests to intervene should briefly
state the reason for the protest or intervention set forth in the Commission’s
Rules of Practice and Procedure. All protests and interventions should be
addressed to Sandra Squire, Executive Secretary, P. O. Box 812, Charleston,
West Virginia 25323.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that if no protests are received within said fifteen
(15) day period, the Commission may waive formal hearing and grant the
application based on the evidence submitted with said application and its review
thereof.
FOR THE COMMISSION:
Sandra Squire
Executive Secretary
