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StopPATH benefit yard sale & public meeting

3/16/2011

We have been planning to hold another yard and bake sale to benefit StopPATH WV, Inc. on Saturday, March 19th from 8:00 - 2:00 and it looks like the sale is on, weather permitting! We were going to call this our "Going out of Business Sale", but due to PATH's "suspension" it looks like our efforts to stop PATH will continue. We're in it until they abandon the project and go away for good! The yard sale will be held in downtown Summit Point on Summit Point Road once again. Stop by and browse all the great stuff we have collected over the winter. It all has to go -- Steve wants to finally put his car in the garage instead of using it as our storage area. Everything has to go!!!

We will also be holding a public information meeting at 2:00 p.m. at the South Jefferson Public Library, 10 Shirley Road, Summit Point, entitled “PATH – The Zombie Project?”

We are justifiably excited at the news that PATH withdrew its state applications. But, PATH and PJM, the regional transmission organization that originally approved the project, have said that it is not dead, just “suspended,” while they hunt for new justifications to bring it back. That means that you – I – all of us are continuing to pay for PATH's costs, including that outrageous 14.3% return on equity!

We'll cover:

Current status of the PATH project;
What's happening at the federal level;
The rebuild of the Mount Storm-Doubs 500-kV line here in Jefferson County;
How Dominion Alternative One affects PATH;
Your questions.

The meeting is free and open to the public. Hope to see you there!

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Virginia SCC Hearing

3/16/2011

11 Comments

There is oral argument on PATH's motion to withdraw their application in Virginia scheduled for tomorrow, March 17, in Richmond.

You can listen in to PATH's pitiful pleading (or arrogant arguing - who knows which tact they'll take?) via the SCC's webcast of the hearing. The hearing begins at 1:00 p.m. -- be there or be square!

Don't miss all of PATH's excuses for why they cannot provide the analyses ordered by the Hearing Examiner in January, which they promised to provide and have now reneged on! Listen to PATH get grilled by Virginia intervenors and Hearing Examiner Skirpan! Plenty of thrills and chills to keep you entertained! A fun time is guaranteed for all... except PATH! They should drink lots of green beer for lunch and hope for a little luck o' the Irish. The hangover from this one is going to be killer...

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PATH front groups continue at ratepayer expense

3/14/2011

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Seems like it was just the other day that we were discussing American Electric Power and FirstEnergy's inclusion of ratepayer funding of their PATH front groups as one of those "activities necessary to maintain the project in its current state" during their "suspension" of the project.

Of course they are continuing the front groups at YOUR expense, electric ratepayer!

See this op-ed in The Baltimore Sun. Dan Ervin of ShoreENERGY tells us that even though PJM has "suspended" PATH due to lack of need for the project, the power companies should build it anyhow. In his fantasy world, everyone is supposed to lean on the Maryland Public Service Commission and somehow the project will happen just like magic!

Who is Dan Ervin? He's a "member of Marylanders for Reliable Power." What is Marylanders for Reliable Power? It's PATH's ratepayer-funded Maryland front group. Ervin is happily spewing power company propaganda for a "coalition" that exists only on the internet, in the American Electric Power and FirstEnergy board rooms, and in the offices of PATH's public relations contractors. Marylanders for Reliable Power is a scam being perpetrated on both their members, who are unaware of where all the funding for their activities comes from; and on the millions of ratepayers in the PJM region who fund the "coalition", including Maryland electric customers!

As revealed in the Formal Challenge to Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline, LLC 2010 Formula Rate Annual Update (beginning on page 9), filed at FERC on January 21, 2011, these front groups are a PATH propaganda tool. PATH spent $682,048.66 on their three state front groups in 2009. The "coalitions" are not standalone legal entities; they do not legally exist as registered entities and therefore all financing of their activities comes directly from PATH. PATH in turn recovers their costs for these front groups from YOU in your electric bill.

The truth behind Marylanders for Reliable Power and the other front group "coalitions" was revealed in Exhibit-P of the Formal Challenge. Exhibit-P consists of PATH's purchase orders and contracts with The Artemis Group, who pulls the puppet strings on guys like Ervin on a daily basis; and Charles Ryan Associates, who "supervises" The Artemis Group in return for a healthy chunk of change every month. CRA also maintains the Marylanders for Reliable Power website.

Who does PATH think they're fooling at this point? And why is the funding of a front group "necessary to maintain the project in its current state"? The exorbitantly expensive and unnecessary propaganda and influence buying campaign continues!

Here's a task for our friends in Maryland (or any other fan of the truth, no matter where you live). Respond to Ervin, The Artemis Group, Charles Ryan Associates and PATH by writing your own op-ed about this farce and submitting it to the Baltimore Sun.

Just when I think PATH can't get any stupider, they continue to amaze me.

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Your comments on FERC docket

3/14/2011

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The comments from ratepayers regarding PATH's "suspension" have begun rolling in to FERC.

You can read the comments (or check to see if yours have been docketed yet) by clicking here and entering ER08-386 in the docket number field and then clicking search. The docket will list the comments by author. To read a certain comment, check your preferred file type over on the right-hand side and then click on the name of the file type you have selected (i.e. "word" or "pdf").

Keep 'em coming, folks! I think FERC is going to find out just how many people are sick and tired of being tormented by PATH's shady practices while their wallets beg for mercy as a result of PATH's spending spree.

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The 711 word sentence

3/14/2011

1 Comment

We've found another reason to laugh at the power companies today! A friend of mine called me up to read to me the mother of all run-on sentences she found in a FirstEnergy press release. This friend has been known to ding me on my long, complex sentences from time to time, so we found this particularly hilarious! She followed up by transferring the gigantic sentence into another program and having it calculate a word count. 711 words - one sentence - lots of commas!

The colossal sentence appears as part of FirstEnergy's "forward looking statements" down at the bottom of this press release. We talked about PATH-parent forward looking statements not too long ago here.

So, what's changed in their forward looking statements regarding how they describe PATH's risks?

"... the status of the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline (PATH) project in light of PJM Interconnection, LLC’s efforts to determine whether the need for PATH should be re-evaluated and the related suspension of work on the project, PATH’s rate of recovery at FERC," blah, blah, blah,

"the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of the capital expenditures needed to complete, among other things, the PATH project as a result of its current suspension status," blah, blah, blah,

They finally acknowledge that their FERC ROE is in serious jeopardy. Isn't that nice?

The 711 word sentence, brought to you by the wordsmiths at FirstEnergy. I can't wait to see their brainless transmission line siting strategy power points! We're sure to be in for a rare treat!

1 Comment

WV HCR 149 adopted

3/13/2011

1 Comment

House Concurrent Resolution 149 was adopted by the WV legislature last night just before the session closed. This Resolution urges that the West Virginia Public Service Commission act to review the condition of the Pruntytown to Mt. Storm 500kV transmission line owned by Monongahela Power, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy, and order the rebuilding and reconductoring of that transmission line as soon as is practical. Full text of the Resolution can be viewed here.

Rebuilding and reconductoring of existing lines is the smart solution to any "need" to increase power flows from West Virginia to the mid-Atlantic coastal states. We don't need new high voltage transmission lines like PATH. Rebuilding and reconductoring is much less costly to ratepayers, takes no new rights-of-way, and can be accomplished much faster than building new lines.

The power companies and their lobbyists have been fighting this Resolution since it was introduced as HCR 58 in early February. Speaker Richard Thompson sat on the original Resolution for a month, finally making a few minor changes to appease industry lobbyists, and sending it to the Senate as HCR 149 just one day before the end of the legislative session.

In the Senate, it was assigned to Judiciary, where it was expected to languish and die as the session closed. However, a coordinated group of West Virginia's PATH opposition spent their Saturday evening on the phone to Charleston, making our displeasure clear.

At nearly the last moment, Senate President Jeff Kessler, Senate Majority Leader John Unger and Senate Judiciary Chairman Corey Palumbo responded to our frantic phone calls and got HCR 149 out to the Senate floor where it was adopted. Please take a moment to thank these legislators for taking the time to correct the mistakes that were made with this Resolution at the legislature and ensuring that it got to the floor for a vote late last night.

Once again, citizen action saves the day! Thank you to every West Virginian who participated in the phone campaign last night.

Oh, and to the power companies and their lobbyists -- we remind you once again that YOU CAN'T VOTE! This will mark the third year that the PATH opposition has either defeated power company legislation or ensured passage of our own. Give up and quit wasting your (our?) money on ineffective lobbying in Charleston.

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Energy Company payoffs buy Chamber of Commerce "study"

3/11/2011

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has issued a "study", Progress Denied: A "Study" on the potential economic impact of permitting challenges facing proposed energy projects, a part of their Project No Project initiative, which purports to show that failed energy projects cost the economy a $1.1 trillion short-term boost to the economy and creation of 1.9 million jobs annually.

The "study" says these energy projects (55% of which are NOT renewable energy projects) are being stalled, stopped, or outright killed nationwide due to “Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY) activism, a broken permitting process and a system that allows limitless challenges by opponents of development. So, in the Chamber's perfect world, the citizens who are directly affected by these projects, both financially and physically, would have absolutely no right to challenge these projects through legal means. The regulatory process would be a mere rubber stamp where challenge was not allowed to muck up the energy companies' plans for profit. It looks like it says "U.S." in front of their name, but their Utopian society sounds more like a third world dictatorship.

The "study" uses fuzzy math and fails to consider the economic costs of these projects to the locality. These dirty energy projects cost communities tax revenue, increased health care costs, lowered property values, increased costs for roads, emergency response and other infrastructure, and various other direct consequential costs to the locality. They also fail to mention that most of the jobs they claim these projects "create" are short-term, temporary jobs that often import workers from elsewhere. These temporary workers can and do go from project to project to project. Is each "job" counting the same worker multiple times at different projects as they move from job to job? "Studies" like these utilize all sorts of bogus "statistics" to inflate claims and cannot be taken seriously.

This summary claims that failed projects "impair private investment," and this article about the study looks at 6 failed projects in Maryland, two of which are transmission line projects (PATH and MAPP). These transmission projects are funded by electric ratepayers in 13 states and D.C. The "private investment" loans for these projects net an average return of about 10%. The power companies who own these projects earn a return as high as 14.3% on their investment equity. Don't you wish you could get that kind of return on your money? And who finances those huge returns, in addition to the eventual entire cost of the transmission project? Ratepayers. Is the cost of these projects to the ratepayers in the form of higher electric bills included in the Chamber's "study"? No, of course not!

So, what's in it for the Chamber to prepare and promote such a bogus "study"? Payoffs from energy companies, such as PATH partners American Electric Power and FirstEnergy, who paid various Chambers of Commerce $47,100 in the year 2009 alone. A large portion of this amount consisted of a $26,000 payoff to the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and a $15,745 payoff to the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, which were intended to coerce them to support the PATH project. This "corporate stewardship" was then subsequently recovered from ratepayers. That's right, the payoffs to the Chamber made by AEP and FE were added to your electric bill!

You know what the Chamber should do with their "study"? Print it on toilet paper because that's the only way it's ever going to be useful.

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PJM's violin solo hits a sour note

3/11/2011

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What's that hideous cacophony? It's the sound of PJM's spokeswoman sawing away like mad on her out-of-tune violin. "It's a matter of caring," DuPont-Kidd said. "It's a responsibility of ours."

Okay, stop laughing, PJM really, really cares for you!!! Really, they do, you believe them, right?

A couple of reporters from The Shepherdstown Chronicle got to the rotten, black, shriveled heart of the PATH project while researching a story this week. Good job, ladies! They got the story that all the other big media outlets missed.

"She said after analyzing the transmission needs of the area, the company will undergo what is called the 'stakeholder process.' DuPont-Kidd said this means talking with those who have a say in if the line should be built. She said by the fall, based on the analysis and stakeholder results, PJM will make a presentation to its board."

We have until fall before PATH makes its encore with PJM's newly manufactured "need" projections.

And who are these "stakeholders" supposed to be? Seems like the "stakeholders" should properly be the regulatory commissions of the three states involved, since they are the only ones at this point who actually have the final authority. And what is PATH doing? They're burning their bridges with arrogant filings and by trying to skip out without providing the results of studies ordered by the Virginia State Corporation Commission.

Why are they guarding the results of these tests so vociferously? Perhaps those results will make their planned rebirth this fall as a B-movie zombie impossible.

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Who wants to help nail the coffin shut?

3/9/2011

13 Comments

On Monday, PATH jabbed a thumb in FERC's eye, as Bill so poetically phrased it on TPL when they filed this "Status Update".

So, what is PATH trying to pull now? They are telling FERC that they are "suspending" their project indefinitely while PJM "conducts more analysis of the PATH project" and "evaluates its planning methods." In other words, PJM is going to alter their processes to create a need for PATH, which has disappeared under their current planning process, and then they'll be back. Maybe.

Meanwhile, PATH will be undertaking "activities necessary to maintain the project in its current state" during the suspension and guess who gets to pay for these "activities" during the suspension? You do, little ratepayer!

Since these "activities" are undefined, lets see what PATH considers "necessary" to maintain the project.

Their PATH Education Awareness Team (PEAT)? Nope, I guess that's not "necessary".

Their ratepayer-funded front group, West Virginians for Reliable Power or Energy or whatever we're calling ourselves this week? Yes, PATH considers this "necessary".

Looks like they intend to continue to waste your money on imprudent expenditures like front groups for an indefinite period of time.

How are they going to do that, you ask? Through their Formula Rate, "which will continue to apply during the suspension," just like nothing has happened. So, PATH intends to continue to charge ratepayers for all project expenses and that huge 14.3% return every year while their failed project sits on a shelf at PJM indefinitely.

How long is this suspension supposed to last? That's really not clear, but "FirstEnergy spokesman Doug Colafella said it looks like completion of the project has been delayed until at least 2020, based on PJM's latest forecasts." So, PATH wants to continue to toss your money down the PATH rathole for at least another 9 years before they abandon this loser project? How much is our outlook on energy going to change in the next nine years? We certainly won't need the PATH project! It's time to give up on PATH now!

When PATH was granted their incentives at FERC way back in 2008, one of the incentives they were granted was,"recovery of 100 percent of prudently-incurred costs associated with abandonment of the Project, provided that the abandonment is a result of factors beyond the control of PATH, which must be demonstrated in a subsequent section 205 filing for recovery of abandoned plant." FERC granted this incentive for a reason that has now become reality -- the PATH project has failed. However, PJM and PATH were very careful with their word choice in the press release last Monday to avoid that "A" word. PATH's "thumb in FERC's eye" continues, "Importantly, the PJM Board has not directed the sponsoring transmission owners to cancel or abandon the PATH project..."

One of the reasons PATH got such a big basket of incentives from FERC was that the route and end users were in what the Dept. of Energy had designated to be the Mid-Atlantic National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC). On February 1, 2011 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated (cancelled) that designation. An open question is - What should the status of the incentives PATH received be now, in the face of this designation cancellation? Does PATH have the right to continue using incentives which were granted due to a now illegal designation?

PATH's "suspension" is an option they are creating. Either they have a project and they proceed, or they don't have a project and they abandon it. Instead, they are making up a third option and hoping FERC will go along with it.

FERC has an important decision to make. Would you like to let FERC know what you, the ones financing this project, think they should do?

We're going to make it easy for you to do!

1. Download this template. Fill in your name, address, the date, your comments, and your name at the bottom. If you would like it filed electronically, you don't need to sign it, but can use "/s/ Your Name" in the signature block.

2. You can drop it in the U.S. Mail, or we will file it electronically for you.

3. If you would like us to file it electronically, there are two more steps to complete.

First, you must register your email address with FERC. It's simple and quick -- go here

Second, send your letter as an attachment (either pdf or word file) here (click on the word "here" and it will launch your email program) and it will be filed electronically with FERC for you.

Let's review:

1. PATH wants to continue to spend an undefined and unlimited amount of funds recovered from ratepayers and collect their 14.3% return for an indefinite period of time.

2. PJM has said their project is not needed. FirstEnergy says their project may be needed in 2020 or later.

3. PATH should be properly abandoned at FERC now. To "suspend" the project and continue to charge ratepayers to maintain it in its current state is unjust and unreasonable.

4. The conditions under which PATH received their incentives from FERC have changed significantly.

5. Allowing PATH to proceed this way sets a dangerous precedent whereby utilities will apply for projects they never intend to complete and hold in "suspension" indefinitely in order to collect a generous return from ratepayers.

6. Tell FERC about your own personal experiences with the PATH project -- whether it's your dealings with land agents, lies you were told, outrageous behavior on the part of PATH, their arrogance when dealing with local government and citizens, the fact that their "Kemptown" substation has been rejected by Frederick County, or whatever you would like to relate from your own experience. Make your letter personal and unique!

To see a couple of example letters, click here and here. Please do not copy these letters word for word!

This may be your only opportunity to have a say in PATH's final status. Please add your voice!

To see comments already docketed at FERC regarding PATH's "suspension", click here.

13 Comments

"Best Practices" #3 - Surveillance of the Opposition

3/9/2011

2 Comments

Being webmaster of a PATH opposition website is a lot of work, but it has it's moments. In addition to a host of other activities, the webmaster has to keep everything updated (not easy when PATH is continually asking for tolls and trying to change the game). The webmaster is also tasked with providing news about activities and events. Sometimes, it's like walking a tightrope. Just enough information for the public, and not too much, because you know "they" are snooping. For some strange reason, PATH thinks they're going to come across some huge, juicy secret if they scour our websites. Never going to happen. I've been working on the internet for a long, long time, and I realize everything on here is public. That's how it should be. PATH can and does visit whenever it likes, just like the opposition.

PATH "Best Practice" #3 is their hired surveillance of the opposition. This is best exemplified by their little cyber-pet, Cyveillance. Cyveillance provides its client with "intelligence" scoured from the internet all neatly wrapped up in daily reports. Cyveillance accomplishes this by sending robots to suck down entire websites. These guys don't come cheap. However, they are quite easily thwarted by the webmaster. Why would PATH need to waste the ratepayers' money on a cyber-surveillance company when opposition websites are open access? We have nothing to hide. We aren't doing anything illegal. PATH is simply afraid of us and the damage we can cause to their ridicufarce by telling the truth.

I have gotten to know some of my fellow PATH opposition webmasters very well. Imagine our cynicism when comparing notes and finding that we were all being hit by the same Cyveillance bot that would suck up page after page in mere seconds. Who would want to do that to multiple, unrelated websites whose only common thread was opposition to the PATH project? PATH, of course! Randy Palmer denied that they had anything to do with Cyveillance, and if you believe that, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. It will all come out in the wash on June 1st, won't it?

Being a webmaster also has its fun moments. A blog is your own personal bully pulpit and it was a fun afternoon when I conspired with another webmaster and TPL and StopPATH posted these blog entries within minutes of each other. Whoopsy, PATH, your paid spy has been outed!

PATH has an unlimited supply of money subsequently recovered from ratepayers and the resources and power of two huge corporations behind it. The citizens have mere truth and determination on their side. But yet they fear ordinary citizens so much that they feel the need to hire people to spy on us.

A company asking for public utility status and the state-granted power of eminent domain should be a little more circumspect than to pay a third party to perform surveillance and intelligence gathering on their citizen opponents, the same people they will be exercising their "power" over. There's always a money trail and reams of evidence left behind. This "Best Practice" could get PATH into a little bit of trouble. So maybe it's not "Best" after all.

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Forward>>

StopPATH benefit yard sale & public meeting

Virginia SCC Hearing

PATH front groups continue at ratepayer expense

Your comments on FERC docket

The 711 word sentence

WV HCR 149 adopted

Energy Company payoffs buy Chamber of Commerce "study"

PJM's violin solo hits a sour note

Who wants to help nail the coffin shut?

"Best Practices" #3 - Surveillance of the Opposition

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