There are so many power company skeletons rattling around in the closet, it's hard to keep track of them all. While researching a current project, I came across a mid-2009 article, "Solving the System Overload," in a publication called "WV Executive," which was written by one of Allegheny Energy's henchmen. When I went to save it, I found that I'd already saved it way back in the fall of 2010, and then forgot about it. I don't remember what I originally intended to do with it, but the perspective of another 18 months renders the article absolutely hilarious.
Haney is so serious with his propaganda... did people actually drink his KoolAid in 2009? The article promotes Allegheny Energy's TrAIL and PATH projects and is complete and utter crap. Projections, "facts" and doomsday claims made in this article never existed in reality, and never came true. You cannot believe ANYTHING power companies tell you, the evidence is right here.
All that claimed "increased demand" for electricity in the opening paragraphs had petered out long before this article was written, thanks to a tanking economy, increased efficiency and demand resources on the east coast. Haney knew that when he wrote this propaganda.
TrAIL and PATH were all about increased use of coal to power the east coast. That much is clear in the article.
"TrAIL will also benefit the West Virginia economy over the long term by expanding markets for local coal and allowing for potential new generation projects, including clean-coal technologies and renewable sources such as wind."
Bet they're not so proud of themselves now...
Haney also touts his astroturf front group, West Virginians for Reliable Power. Turns out that was all a big, expensive scam that electric consumers paid for. There was no "coalition" of independent entities, it was a marketing scam engineered and directed by Allegheny Energy and its public relations contractor. But, go ahead and "see what the coalition is saying" by visiting the website Haney touts in his article. Real grassroots activists have taken over due to a screw up on the Allegheny Energy end.
Lots of garbage promoting Allegheny Energy's new transmission headquarters in the green box on page 2. The headquarters was part of the buy off of WV Governor Joe Manchin in exchange for needed approval by the WV-PSC. It wasn't even finished before FirstEnergy took over and turned it into a "regional headquarters" for their Mon Power subsidiary, though.
How about all those jobs that supposedly flow from construction of one of these transmission lines? The truth is right here in the article -- those jobs go to specialized contractors from out of state and the "jobs" that the locality benefits from are:
"The economic impact of the construction activity benefits communities along the line, where local businesses provide lodging, meals, supplies and services for field workers."
So unless those union workers in PA & NJ, who recently testified about how badly they need jobs at the NPS EIS hearings, are members of the Motel6/McDonalds workers' union, there won't be any jobs for them flowing from the Susquehanna-Roseland project either.
Haney promotes PATH by sharing that it will, "...create opportunities to upgrade existing transmission facilities to increase their capacity. The current system is so heavily loaded that it is not possible to take the lengthy outages necessary to re-conductor overburdened lines."
Ooops... that turned out to be an outright lie. PATH has been "suspended" and Dominion has recently taken Mt. Storm-Doubs out of service while it rebuilds the line, and my lights haven't even blinked. I'm sure yours haven't either.
“The PATH project is vital to the reliability of the electricity grid serving this region,” says Michael Morris, AEP chairman, president and chief executive officer. “It is critical that we reinforce the transmission infrastructure to ensure we can continue to supply reliable electrical service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”
Mikey, Mikey, Mikey... it wasn't "vital" at all, was it? It was just another expensive, unneeded boondoggle that AEP has now swept under the rug. However, I'm sick and tired of continuing to pay for your mistake. Give up and abandon this white elephant once and for all.
Haney is so serious with his propaganda... did people actually drink his KoolAid in 2009? The article promotes Allegheny Energy's TrAIL and PATH projects and is complete and utter crap. Projections, "facts" and doomsday claims made in this article never existed in reality, and never came true. You cannot believe ANYTHING power companies tell you, the evidence is right here.
All that claimed "increased demand" for electricity in the opening paragraphs had petered out long before this article was written, thanks to a tanking economy, increased efficiency and demand resources on the east coast. Haney knew that when he wrote this propaganda.
TrAIL and PATH were all about increased use of coal to power the east coast. That much is clear in the article.
"TrAIL will also benefit the West Virginia economy over the long term by expanding markets for local coal and allowing for potential new generation projects, including clean-coal technologies and renewable sources such as wind."
Bet they're not so proud of themselves now...
Haney also touts his astroturf front group, West Virginians for Reliable Power. Turns out that was all a big, expensive scam that electric consumers paid for. There was no "coalition" of independent entities, it was a marketing scam engineered and directed by Allegheny Energy and its public relations contractor. But, go ahead and "see what the coalition is saying" by visiting the website Haney touts in his article. Real grassroots activists have taken over due to a screw up on the Allegheny Energy end.
Lots of garbage promoting Allegheny Energy's new transmission headquarters in the green box on page 2. The headquarters was part of the buy off of WV Governor Joe Manchin in exchange for needed approval by the WV-PSC. It wasn't even finished before FirstEnergy took over and turned it into a "regional headquarters" for their Mon Power subsidiary, though.
How about all those jobs that supposedly flow from construction of one of these transmission lines? The truth is right here in the article -- those jobs go to specialized contractors from out of state and the "jobs" that the locality benefits from are:
"The economic impact of the construction activity benefits communities along the line, where local businesses provide lodging, meals, supplies and services for field workers."
So unless those union workers in PA & NJ, who recently testified about how badly they need jobs at the NPS EIS hearings, are members of the Motel6/McDonalds workers' union, there won't be any jobs for them flowing from the Susquehanna-Roseland project either.
Haney promotes PATH by sharing that it will, "...create opportunities to upgrade existing transmission facilities to increase their capacity. The current system is so heavily loaded that it is not possible to take the lengthy outages necessary to re-conductor overburdened lines."
Ooops... that turned out to be an outright lie. PATH has been "suspended" and Dominion has recently taken Mt. Storm-Doubs out of service while it rebuilds the line, and my lights haven't even blinked. I'm sure yours haven't either.
“The PATH project is vital to the reliability of the electricity grid serving this region,” says Michael Morris, AEP chairman, president and chief executive officer. “It is critical that we reinforce the transmission infrastructure to ensure we can continue to supply reliable electrical service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”
Mikey, Mikey, Mikey... it wasn't "vital" at all, was it? It was just another expensive, unneeded boondoggle that AEP has now swept under the rug. However, I'm sick and tired of continuing to pay for your mistake. Give up and abandon this white elephant once and for all.
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