Dear Participants and Friends......
Tuesday, February 21st at 10 am and 7 pm, the Public
Comment
Hearings are scheduled at the Erickson Center off Patterson
Drive.
This will substitute for the MVCAC monthly meeting.
The Hearings should be "on topic", which is the 500
kV
transmission line running north from the proposed
Longview
site to a sub-station in Pennsylvania, where it
will
interconnect with the existing 500 kV line of
Allegheny
Energy.
Adverse electrical interactions could occur between the
proposed Longview plant and the Ft. Martin
plant on
the shared transmission lines, due to voltage
control
and power line congestion. The competition
between
Longview and Ft. Martin can be costly to both,
and
ultimately costly to us, the WV customers for
electricity.
The remaining issues from the Siting Certificate
process,
that are still active issues today and "fair game"
for
the public hearings, are as follows:
1. What is the Longview plant equipment layout, what will
it
look like up close and far away; will it be safe to Airport
traffic
with its tall 554 foot smoke stake; and, will the
large steam plume
from the cooling towers be an obstacle or an
eyesore.
{"plant layout", "visual perspective", "viewshed
issue"}
There will be warning lights on the smoke stack and
substantial
lighting in the rest of the plant, giving rise to "light
pollution".
2. What about the noises from the plant, as an
annoyance
for the Ft. Martin community; what about all the
additional
car and truck traffic on the local roads, as a source of
noise
and congestion.
3. What are the risks of financial failure of Longview,
who
must raise about one billion dollars to build the plant;
then,
they plan to build and sell immediately, to maximize
their
payout.......... without "offending" the public interest
of
the residents of West Virginia.
4. How much will be the tax burden for the Longview
plant;
will it be fair to Longview; will it be just for the rest of
us?
[The Payment In Lieu of Taxes [PILOT] scheme of the
Mon.
County Commission gives Longview a special tax
break.]
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
P.S. I would propose we have a general meeting of
MVCAC
on Monday, March 6th, to start preparations for the
Evidentiary
Hearing to be in Charleston and the Mon-Earth
concert.........
....... your comments, please!
Happy Presidents' Day. Horray; this month we have
three President's
Days, the 12th, 20th, and 22nd.