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@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