It was both inspiring and heart wrenching listening to Franklin County residents testify in opposition to the Transource Independence Energy Connection during four PUC public hearings this week. More than 100 people showed up at the first hearing on Tuesday afternoon, and many of them testified under oath.
Resident after resident stepped up to the microphone to tell the judges how this project would affect them. We heard about how this project would burden farmland, oftentimes land that has been in the family since the 1800's. Farmland sometimes serves as a farmer's retirement plan and much of a farmer's wealth is tied up in his land. A new transmission line across it not only devalues it, but can make it worthless for future uses. How many people in No. Va., D.C., and Baltimore do you suppose are offering up a part of their retirement savings in order to make power a few cents cheaper each month? But yet they ask these hardworking farmers to take that kind of hit.
We also heard from a developer who owns a master planned community in Franklin whose beautiful views, property value, and economic well-being will be forever marred by the presence of this transmission line through the valley.
One of my favorites was a professor of economics from a local university who couldn't find any economic benefit for Franklin County, and quoted some absolutely hysterical lines from Paul McGlynn's testimony that made absolutely no sense.
Katie Hess from South Mountain Partnership approached with maps, studies, and other publicly published exhibits and testified at length about how the project would impact farmland, economics of the region, and the environment. She also shared that she approached Transource early on in the process in an attempt to develop a partnership of sorts to help site the line to have the least impacts. Transource dismissed and rebuffed her efforts. I guess they're now reaping what they sowed. At the end, Transource's attorney objected to her exhibits as "heresay." Overruled!
The president of the Franklin County Area Development Corporation testified that Transource's claimed economic benefits to Franklin County were biased and perhaps exaggerated. Based on his many years of experience developing the economy of Franklin County, he said Transource has failed to quantify the benefits and articulate the need for this project. He also had an amusing Transource story to tell... that the company assumed he would automatically support the project and sing its praises. However, he is adamantly opposed. He is the first local economic development professional I have seen to reject a transmission proposal. I greatly admire his honesty and professionalism on behalf of the people of Franklin County!
And, of course, a union shill showed up. Funny that... the first person signed up to speak was Bernie Kephart. Except he wasn't there. How did his name get on the list? Did he sign up remotely? Or did someone else sign his name, hoping he would show up? Bad form, Transource. Extremely bad form. Don't junk up speaker lists with names of people who aren't even present. And the one union guy who did speak told everyone they wouldn't even notice the power line after it was built. He got a roar of laughter so powerful even he was laughing as he slunk away from the microphone. Pretty ridiculous!
Attendance was also high at the three subsequent hearings, with about 100 speakers voicing opposition to the project, and many more filling the venue to support the opposition. The only ones voicing support for the project were a few union plants and a farmer/transmission construction company owner from another part of the state who says he does $30M of business yearly. Ya know, Transource, you did a lousy job drumming up fake advocacy for your project.
But who needs advocacy when you have liars like Todd Burns schmoozing up the media? He actually said PJM "identified a deficiency in the grid." No, it didn't. It identified a price differential between the cost of electricity in Pennsylvania and the cost of electricity in Washington, DC. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the grid. It is not "deficient." We don't need to "reinforce the grid." Liar, liar, pants on fire!
It's time for Transource to pack up all its lies, its exaggerations, its fake claims of benefit, its totally false pretense of "working with the community," its injunctions and abusive, lying land agents and take the whole kit and kaboodle back to Columbus, Ohio. That's not the way the good people of Franklin County live their lives. You're not fooling anyone, Transource. Nobody at all.
I'm pretty sure the PUC administrative law judges left Franklin County with plenty of truth, however. The citizens came out strong and spoke from their hearts. That's a big win in the regulatory world!
We also heard from a developer who owns a master planned community in Franklin whose beautiful views, property value, and economic well-being will be forever marred by the presence of this transmission line through the valley.
One of my favorites was a professor of economics from a local university who couldn't find any economic benefit for Franklin County, and quoted some absolutely hysterical lines from Paul McGlynn's testimony that made absolutely no sense.
Katie Hess from South Mountain Partnership approached with maps, studies, and other publicly published exhibits and testified at length about how the project would impact farmland, economics of the region, and the environment. She also shared that she approached Transource early on in the process in an attempt to develop a partnership of sorts to help site the line to have the least impacts. Transource dismissed and rebuffed her efforts. I guess they're now reaping what they sowed. At the end, Transource's attorney objected to her exhibits as "heresay." Overruled!
The president of the Franklin County Area Development Corporation testified that Transource's claimed economic benefits to Franklin County were biased and perhaps exaggerated. Based on his many years of experience developing the economy of Franklin County, he said Transource has failed to quantify the benefits and articulate the need for this project. He also had an amusing Transource story to tell... that the company assumed he would automatically support the project and sing its praises. However, he is adamantly opposed. He is the first local economic development professional I have seen to reject a transmission proposal. I greatly admire his honesty and professionalism on behalf of the people of Franklin County!
And, of course, a union shill showed up. Funny that... the first person signed up to speak was Bernie Kephart. Except he wasn't there. How did his name get on the list? Did he sign up remotely? Or did someone else sign his name, hoping he would show up? Bad form, Transource. Extremely bad form. Don't junk up speaker lists with names of people who aren't even present. And the one union guy who did speak told everyone they wouldn't even notice the power line after it was built. He got a roar of laughter so powerful even he was laughing as he slunk away from the microphone. Pretty ridiculous!
Attendance was also high at the three subsequent hearings, with about 100 speakers voicing opposition to the project, and many more filling the venue to support the opposition. The only ones voicing support for the project were a few union plants and a farmer/transmission construction company owner from another part of the state who says he does $30M of business yearly. Ya know, Transource, you did a lousy job drumming up fake advocacy for your project.
But who needs advocacy when you have liars like Todd Burns schmoozing up the media? He actually said PJM "identified a deficiency in the grid." No, it didn't. It identified a price differential between the cost of electricity in Pennsylvania and the cost of electricity in Washington, DC. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the grid. It is not "deficient." We don't need to "reinforce the grid." Liar, liar, pants on fire!
It's time for Transource to pack up all its lies, its exaggerations, its fake claims of benefit, its totally false pretense of "working with the community," its injunctions and abusive, lying land agents and take the whole kit and kaboodle back to Columbus, Ohio. That's not the way the good people of Franklin County live their lives. You're not fooling anyone, Transource. Nobody at all.
I'm pretty sure the PUC administrative law judges left Franklin County with plenty of truth, however. The citizens came out strong and spoke from their hearts. That's a big win in the regulatory world!
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