Frequently Asked Questions

Q.	What's the status of PATH?
A.	On August 24, 2012, PJM ordered the PATH project "terminated". Prior to that, PJM "suspended" the project on February 28, 2011, and PATH subsequently filed to withdraw their applications in all three states. Meanwhile, Dominion Virginia Power has received approval in West Virginia to begin a re-build of the Mt. Storm - Doubs 500kV transmission line, which will increase capacity by 65%. Dominion has presented a series of alternatives to PATH, one of which depends entirely on upgrading current infrastructure and will require NO new rights-of-way or eminent domain and costs only a fraction of PATH's plan. Dominion's plan is a sensible and economic alternative that is supported by the three state Commissions and is currently under construction.
Q.	If PATH is not constructed by PJM’s inservice date, will we experience brownouts and blackouts because there isn't enough power?
A.	No. The threat of brownouts and blackouts is just a scare tactic PATH is using in their advertising, along with their attacks on your creature comforts (your big screen tv, iPhone, computer and wii game system). The 2003 blackout was caused by operator error and lack of transmission line right-of-way maintenance. Read the Secretary of Energy's Final Report on the August 14, 2003 Blackout in the United States and Canada - Causes and Recommendations. The report makes no mention of lack of transmission capacity as contributing to the blackout and their recommendations for the future do not include additional high-voltage transmission lines.
Q.	But what about the congestion on transmission lines that PATH talks about?
A.	The "congestion" PATH is designed to fix is economic congestion. Simply put, it means that coal-fired electric generators in the Ohio Valley, like AEP's John Amos plant, cannot transport unlimited quantities of power into the mid-Atlantic states and Eastern seaboard. They want to transport more power to the east coast because they can sell the same power in Philadelphia, Newark or Baltimore at a much higher price than they can to customers in the Ohio Valley. In the PJM region, the lowest cost power available must be dispatched first. Therefore, if AEP can get it's coal-fired power there in sufficient quantities at no cost to themselves, they can sell more power at a higher profit.
Q.	How do they get it there at no cost to themselves?
A.	Because the 51 million ratepayers in the PJM region are sharing the "socialized" cost of PATH and other transmission projects designed to achieve the same goal. It costs the power companies nothing, in fact, they even make a 14.3% profit on their investment, at the expense of these very same ratepayers!
Q.	What is PJM?
A.	PJM is the Regional Transmission Operator of the grid serving 51 million electric customers in 13 states and the District of Columbia. PJM's interest is solely in transmission, so therefore all PJM "problems" involve transmission solutions. PJM has grown over the years to acquire a bigger and bigger footprint. In 2004, AEP was integrated into PJM and remains their largest member. Transmission that benefits AEP also benefits PJM, so they are hardly the "transparent" and impartial third party they pretend to be. Shortly after AEP and other Ohio Valley coal-fired power generators, such as Allegheny Energy, joined PJM, Project Mountaineer was developed. Project Mountaineer's goal was to transport an additional 5,000 MW of coal-fired generation to the East coast from the Ohio Valley. It was the impetus for federal designation of National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors to ease siting issues and the framework for PATH and other new transmission projects. Allegheny Energy and AEP proposed that PJM begin to use its Regional Transmission Expansion Plan as a "vehicle" for advancing these new transmission projects, which it did beginning in 2007. The real transparency visible at PJM is how its decisions are controlled by the financial interests of its most powerful members to the detriment of smaller, cleaner generators and transmission customers. The "need" for PATH was created by PJM after the project was first proposed in 2006.
Q.	If AEP, PJM and Allegheny Energy benefit from PATH, what benefits are in it for me?
A.	The PJM ratepayer's "benefits" include the cost of the transmission project and power company profit added to their electric bill as well as the burden and sacrifice of losing homes and land to new rights-of-way and the detrimental health and environmental effects of living in close proximity to new high-voltage transmission lines.
Q.	But PATH claims to fix reliability concerns. What about reliability of the grid?
A.	"Reliability is not a function of the amount of wire in the air", says George Loehr in his testimony to the Virginia State Corporation Commission regarding the PATH application that was dismissed in that state earlier this year. Loehr is an engineer with 47 years of extensive experience in the bulk power transmission system. He believes that PATH will actually make the grid less reliable.
Q.	PATH says that our grid is old, outdated and failing. Is this true?
A.	No. Our grid is just sorely misused. An article in The Industrial Physicist explains how our grid was designed for local generation and distribution. With deregulation in the early '90s, the grid began to transport greater amounts of electricity for longer distances, as energy trading exploded. If increasing power flows are making our grid unstable, the answer lies with increased generation near load, or reducing load through demand side management or energy efficiency. Generation is supposed to be driven by market, but if we instead rely on premature transmission solutions, the natural market is stifled and will never respond. If PATH is approved, we may be creating another Enron. Dominion Virginia Power has recently submitted a plan to PJM for an alternative to PATH which will re-build and modernize one of Dominion's transmission lines at a much lower cost. Modernization of existing lines will obviate the need for PATH and cost us much less.
Q.	Is demand for electricity increasing at such a rate that we need PATH to "keep the lights on"?
A.	Electricity consumption has fallen for the past two years. According to the U.S. DOE, EIA's 2010 Annual Energy Outlook energy consumption will increase only 14% between 2008 and 2035, much less than PATH's inflated claims. Also, the report points out that falling demand is due to gains in energy efficiency, and is not simply a product of the recession, as PATH claims. Since West Virginia currently exports 70% of the electricity it produces, there is already a plentiful supply for our homes and businesses.
Q.	Then who is the power transported by PATH intended for?
A.	PATH is intended to serve markets on the East coast, such as New Jersey. Large capacity lines like PATH act as a superhighway for electricity, and are not intended to serve local markets. Using the superhighway example, PATH can be likened to a highway passing through the community with no local exit or entrance ramps. Despite PATH's colorful maps and painful explanation of how PATH's electricity will be routed to our local homes and businesses through the Welton Springs and Kemptown substations, its all subterfuge. We don't have PATH now, and there are no shortages -- the distribution system we currently rely on is served by existing substations and transmission lines. Adding PATH and new substations will not change the current system that keeps our lights on. What our current system cannot do, however, is transport additional power to markets to our east, and this is what PATH and its companion new substations are intended to do. PJM's recently released 2010 TEAC shows for the first time new transmission lines beginning at the proposed Kemptown substation heading to points east (New Jersey!) PATH is intended to tie into existing and new 500kV lines at the new substations, which will transport it further east, not back toward us.
Q.	Do we need PATH to transport renewable sources of electricity, like wind and solar?
A.	No. PATH will necessarily be fixed into one location which may not coincide with development of renewable resources. Despite some of the rumors you may have been hearing, southwest solar and midwest wind are located too far away to economically be transported to east coast load centers (unless the ratepayers end up footing the bill for a national grid as well). The greatest source of renewable power on the east coast is offshore wind, which is now in the early stages of development. Piedmont Environmental Council has an interesting map showing wind potential and the true intention behind a national grid. PATH is heading in the wrong direction to transport offshore wind to load centers in the east. Instead, PATH will merely lock West Virginia and the east coast into many more years of coal use, unless it is soon made obsolete by eastern renewables coming online.
Q.	Should I be concerned about the EMF produced by PATH and its effect on my family's health?
A.	EMF has long been the subject of scientific debate. PATH claims that studies show that it is not harmful, but those studies are old and influenced by industry bias. Much like the tobacco companies in the 1950s and '60s tried to suppress the science proving tobacco as harmful, the power companies work hard at clouding the issue and denying that there is any link between EMF and health issues. PATH's application claims that the EMF produced by PATH will be within the range of 79 - 156 mG. Recent readings performed by both Allegheny Power and an engineering firm on behalf of the Jefferson County School Board under the current 500kV/138kV contiguous rights-of-way in Summit Point near the elementary school ranged between 200 to 300 mG. When we add PATH to the existing configuration, what will the values be? Professor Martin Blank, a scientist from Columbia University who has been studying EMF for years, explains how EMF affects human cells and DNA which leads to health risks in his easy to understand testimony before the Virginia SCC in October, 2009. Blank strongly urges, "I believe that adding any HVAC lines to the existing 500 kV and 138 kV corridor would greatly increase the health risks of the exposed population."
Q.	How much is PATH going to cost me, if it is constructed?
A.	PATH claims that it will increase monthly costs for the average West Virginia customer around $.70 per month. This is based on PATH's recently updated estimated construction cost of $2.1B. However, a recent look at PATH's FERC formula rate filings and testimony submitted to the WV PSC reveals that PATH is going to cost you much more than they're leading you to believe. That $2.1B estimate only covers the cost of the lines, towers, equipment and the land it will sit on. However, you're also going to pay for a whole slew of other costs associated with PATH for many years to come, including a yearly incentive rate of return on the $2.1B project cost. On January 21, 2011, a Formal Challenge to PATH's Formula Rate for their 2009 expenditures was filed at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by two West Virginia citizens. In December of 2011, a second Formal Challenge was filed. The two Challenges total $5.8M in alleged improper and imprudent expenses recovered from PJM ratepayers to finance the PATH project. You may read a copy of the most recent Formal Challenge here. On Sept. 20, 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted the Formal Challenges and set the matter for hearing and settlement. Read a copy of FERC's order here. This is how PATH has been spending YOUR money! See also the cost-related posts on our StopPATH WV Blog for a hair-raising look at how much you're already being charged for PATH and how they are spending your money and will continue to spend generously if PATH is approved.
Q.	Will PATH affect my property values?
A.	PATH's own expert witness on the subject of property values and transmission lines admits that property values will be impacted up to 10% immediately upon completion of PATH and values may not recover for up to 10 years. Other experts say that property devaluation is even higher and may never fully recover.

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