"Hotels and restaurants were busy as many residents of West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle could be without power until late this week because three large towers that hold major transmission lines were knocked down during Friday night’s storm, officials said."
Say what, FirstEnergy?
Anyone who knows the difference (and there is one!) between the transmission and the distribution system knows this doesn't make any sense. If "major transmission lines" supplying the Eastern Panhandle were the sole cause of current outages, then I wouldn't be sitting here at Mickey Dee's in the Panhandle writing this story. A "major transmission" outage affecting the Panhandle would have the entire area in the dark, not just the sporadic outages still unrepaired. Those outages are on the distribution system, not the transmission system. Most of West Virginia's transmission system exists to supply coal-fired electricity produced in West Virginia to other states, not to West Virginians.
Can't FirstEnergy's PR spinners tell the truth just this once?
Say what, FirstEnergy?
Anyone who knows the difference (and there is one!) between the transmission and the distribution system knows this doesn't make any sense. If "major transmission lines" supplying the Eastern Panhandle were the sole cause of current outages, then I wouldn't be sitting here at Mickey Dee's in the Panhandle writing this story. A "major transmission" outage affecting the Panhandle would have the entire area in the dark, not just the sporadic outages still unrepaired. Those outages are on the distribution system, not the transmission system. Most of West Virginia's transmission system exists to supply coal-fired electricity produced in West Virginia to other states, not to West Virginians.
Can't FirstEnergy's PR spinners tell the truth just this once?
Drama, drama, drama.
According to this news story in the Charleston Gazette, FE spinner Todd Meyers claims, "In Ellenboro, a 500-kilovolt transmission line -- it crunched three towers. That's part of the interstate transmission grid, and it's out." Repair crews were at the scene Sunday, he said.
What does that have to do with service in the Eastern Panhandle? Not much. Interestingly enough, FirstEnergy was required to submit a "transmission facility condition assessment" to the West Virginia Public Service Commission in May, as part of one of the conditions of their permit to construct the unnecessary TrAIL line through West Virginia. In this report, "the Companies have determined that there is no present need for condition-based reconductoring or rebuild efforts for any of the EHV Facilities.
Except that the Companies' transmission lines fall over in high winds. And then the Companies' PR spinners over-dramatize it to reporters who don't know the difference between the transmission and distribution system. Thankfully there are certain reporters who are a little harder to fool.
According to this news story in the Charleston Gazette, FE spinner Todd Meyers claims, "In Ellenboro, a 500-kilovolt transmission line -- it crunched three towers. That's part of the interstate transmission grid, and it's out." Repair crews were at the scene Sunday, he said.
What does that have to do with service in the Eastern Panhandle? Not much. Interestingly enough, FirstEnergy was required to submit a "transmission facility condition assessment" to the West Virginia Public Service Commission in May, as part of one of the conditions of their permit to construct the unnecessary TrAIL line through West Virginia. In this report, "the Companies have determined that there is no present need for condition-based reconductoring or rebuild efforts for any of the EHV Facilities.
Except that the Companies' transmission lines fall over in high winds. And then the Companies' PR spinners over-dramatize it to reporters who don't know the difference between the transmission and distribution system. Thankfully there are certain reporters who are a little harder to fool.
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