PJM Interconnection -- a regional transmission organization that coordinates the movement of electricity in 13 states including Ohio -- mandated AEP build a new line in Dublin’s West Innovation District based on energy forecasts and projections, said Dublin Public Affairs Officer Lindsay Weisenauer.

Joe Demaree, a project outreach specialist for AEP, said Dublin residents and businesses -- and future residents and business -- would require more electricity. The summer of 2022 is when projected electrical capacity necessary to support businesses and residents would outpace existing infrastructure, he said.

The proposed transmission line, Demaree said, would fix that problem and avoid putting AEP’s power grid in jeopardy.

AEP has received requests for increased demand in the Dublin, Ohio area. Analysis shows Bethel - Sawmill 138 kV will be a constraint. Consequent inspection identified clearance violations along the Bethel - Sawmill 138 kV line. AEP has de-rated the thermal capacity of the line to mitigate potential safety issues. Brookside-Sawmill -> N-1-1=127%, N-1=117% Bethel-Brookside -> N-1-1=102%, N-1=92% (N-1-1: Bethel - Roberts 138 kV + Davidson - Roberts 138 kV) AEP believes that the loading issues exist today due to the recent 30% de-rate of the line. Newly connected customer loads are scheduled to ramp up, significantly contributing to area thermal concerns.

The Dublin-Sawmill 138kV circuit will experience loading of 116% under N-1-1 conditions involving the loss of Bethel-Davidson 138kV & Davidson-Roberts 138kV circuits. With load growth in the area, we anticipate this line to overload starting in 2022. AEP-Ohio has requested a third 138kV source to Dublin station to maintain acceptable reliability levels for the load at risk. Dublin Station serves 75 MVA of peak demand with minimal load transfer capability. Dublin station serves some critical loads. Newly connected customer loads are scheduled to ramp, significantly contributing to area thermal concerns.

Concerned citizens across Oregon have joined forces to oppose construction of the massive, nearly 300-mile-long, Boardman to Hemingway (B2H) high-voltage transmission line. Stop B2H Coalition and Greater Hells Canyon Council charged the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service with failure to adequately review the impact of the route Idaho Power has proposed for the B2H transmission line across five eastern Oregon counties. The suit was filed in federal court in Pendleton.

The suit addresses the federal agencies’ failure to adequately evaluate the need for and environmental effects of the line, which would cause harm to family farms, residential areas and wildlife habitat.

Jim Kreider, Co-Chairperson for Stop B2H Coalition, explained: “Public comment on the federal environmental review closed more than four and a half years ago, long before Idaho Power completed its design for the project. The transmission line route was changed to pass within 2,000 feet of homes in La Grande, and there has been a lot of new information about the project’s likely destructive impacts on eastern Oregon. We are trying to prevent catastrophic damage to our public and private lands by an out-of-state corporation which prioritizes profits for its shareholders.”

The citizens groups’ complaint also cites likely public safety hazards along the project route, including geologic instability and excessive noise near homes, recreation areas and campgrounds. The B2H project would also crisscross the Oregon Trail’s historic ruts and viewsheds—yet BLM refused to consider a citizen-proposed alternative of burying the line for less than two miles in front of the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker County, where 40,000 people come each year to admire the historic Trail.

"This power line would literally cut a permanent destructive swath through local forests and grasslands," said Brian Kelly, restoration director for Greater Hells Canyon Council of La Grande, who also expressed concerns for BLM’s failure to adequately address impacts on wildlife corridors, clean water, climate change, habitat for elk, deer, salmon, and more. "We must protect these values that are so important for all of us.”

The citizens groups say that BLM underestimated the line’s impacts on several resources, including Morgan Lake Park and the habitat of imperiled plants, fish and birds—including the Greater sage-grouse, whose Oregon population in 2019 reached its lowest level in three decades—as well as the likely spread of invasive weeds on public lands and family farms. “In addition to those obvious deficiencies,” Kreider went on to say that “technological changes in the utility industry have made Idaho Power’s 12-year-old proposal obsolete.”

The groups are represented by Portland-based attorneys, including the Crag Law Center.

• By December 2, 2024, Grain Belt shall show that through a combination of the following, a majority of the easements necessary to build the Kansas portion of the Project: (1) have been executed, (2) are demonstrably being negotiated, or (3) are subject to proceedings in state court. Alternatively, Grain Belt must show it has obtained financing for the complete Project. If Grain Belt is unable to meet the required percentage of easements or obtain financing, it is subject to sanctions or shall file a new transmission line siting permit application under K.S.A. 66-1, 178.
  
  
• By December 2, 2026, the percentage of easements necessary to build the Kansas portion of the Project escalates. If Grain Belt is unable to meet the required percentage of easements or obtain financing, it is subject to increased sanctions or shall file a new transmission line siting permit application under K.S.A. 66-1,178.
  
• By December 2, 2028, the percentage of easements necessary to build the Kansas portion of the Project escalates. If Grain Belt is unable to meet the required percentage of easements or obtain financing, Grain Belt must either: (1) shall file a new transmission line siting permit application under K.S.A. 66-1,178; or (b) abandon the Project and allow all easements to revert to the landowners.
  

CMP Corridor Opponents Launch Citizens Initiative
Opponents of Central Maine Power's transmission corridor have filed an application with the Secretary of State to launch a statewide ballot initiative to stop the controversial project.
Tom Saviello , the citizen initiator of the effort, turned in bill language that would revoke the project's deeply unpopular permit approval from Maine's top energy regulator, the Public Utilities Commission. Revoking this permit, called a certificate of public convenience and necessity, would reflect the clear wishes of the majority of Mainers, who do not want the corridor to be built.
"CMP's corridor has drawn strong opposition from most Mainers," Saviello said. "Allowing Mainers to vote to block this project is only fair. We have to consider that nearly 25 towns have already voted to oppose the project, polling shows overwhelming opposition to the project, and CMP's awful scandals continue to get worse. Add to that the fact that Augusta has failed to listen to the clear voice of the people, and it's time for Mainers to take this matter into their own hands. We began the citizen's initiative process so this project will
get stopped in its tracks. Western Maine is too valuable to destroy."
Saviello is a former state representative and state senator from Franklin County, an area that would be heavily affected by CMP's corridor.
Sandi Howard, the director of Say NO to NECEC, will join Saviello in heading up the effort. Say NO to NECEC is a large grassroots organization that formed in opposition to the corridor.
"This corridor is bad for just about everyone," Howard said. "It's only good for a very select few. Augusta politicians and the state agencies who are supposed to protect Maine have failed, so we have to take this effort into our own hands. The citizen's initiative process is an enormous undertaking, but we have more than 20 thousand motivated Mainers who have signed up to help. They've called legislators, lobbied their elected officials, shown up at town meetings, and have even weighed in with Maine's energy and environmental regulators. The work they've done so far is already the broadest and most impressive exercise in direct democracy this state has seen in the modern era, and we know that Mainers are ready to get to work on this next step. We also know that CMP will use every legal trick, every lobbyist they can buy, and all of their influence in Augusta to push for their billion-dollar project, all while neglecting and overcharging their customers. This corridor is bad for Maine, and we don't trust CMP to build it."
The draft language will be considered by the Secretary of State's office in the coming days. Once the Secretary of State clears the language, corridor opponents will use their volunteer network to begin collecting petition signatures from Mainers. See draft language below.
An Act to Reject the New England Clean Energy Connect Transmission Project
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. Amend Order. Within 30 days of the effective date of this legislation and pursuant to its authority under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, section 1321, the Public Utilities Commission shall amend the “Order Granting Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity and Approving Stipulation” entered by the Public Utilities Commission on May 3, 2019 in Docket No. 2017‑00232 for the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission project. The amended order shall find that the construction and operation of the NECEC transmission project is not in the public interest that there is not a public need for the NECEC transmission project. There not being a public need, the amended order shall deny the request for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the NECEC.

According to PSC records dating back to the 1970s, the commission has never rejected a utility application to build a transmission line.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead

Apex Clean Energy Vice President of Public Affairs Dahvi Wilson said it’s no longer simply a matter of getting landowners to sign off on projects. Now, Wilson said, utilities need to secure public support.
“We’re increasingly before state [and] local governments, and we’re facing opponents that are very sincerely concerned about what’s coming to their communities but also misguided,” Wilson said.
Utilities are increasingly facing the deliberate spread of misinformation online about proposed projects, she said. “We’re in a lot of debate right now over what’s true.”
Wilson said regulators must now ascertain whether data are scientifically rigorous or simply pulled from a questionable webpage.

North Dakota Indian Affairs Commissioner Scott Davis, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, led negotiations with the Dakota Access Pipeline over a two-year period. He described how he was constantly afraid of a protester’s death and listening to helicopters conducting crowd control near his home.
“Don’t underestimate the power of my people. You can tell them not to do it, and they’re going to do it,” Davis said. “Quite honestly, government hasn’t treated us very well in the decades of our existence.”
Davis said “old-fashioned” face-to-face discussions with tribal or community leaders is the best approach to introducing projects with communities, native or not. Davis also warned that treaties protect tribal land.

“[For] a lot of you that have tribes in your states, treaties are the law of the land. They’re in the Constitution. … Understanding tribes, where they’re coming from, is so important,” Davis said. “I think in this world of progress, progress, progress, what drives us — what pushes the gas pedal of progress — is trust. If you’re just rubber-stamping [energy infrastructure projects], you will have an issue.”

Wilson said the wind industry, which previously tended to submit projects quietly, hoping for little public notice, is now more transparent. She also agreed that it’s imperative for utilities to spend face-to-face time in a community.
“If the people that are fighting our projects are much more liked in the community, the community is going to believe them over us,” Wilson advised.
However, she said, it’s still a “hard sell” to convince many utilities to spend money to embed company representatives in a community to foster trust.

Environmental Law & Policy Center Senior Attorney Brad Klein said it’s generally good practice for a utility to perform a full environmental impact analysis early in the process and thoroughly investigate alternatives to a large energy infrastructure project.

“I don’t think alternatives are appropriate in all cases, but they should be fully considered up front,” Klein said. Decisions should be made based on “full and fair information,” he said, which should contemplate new technologies, battery storage and collections of distributed resources.

Klein also acknowledged that there will be environmental trade-offs with any large infrastructure project. But utilities and regulators shouldn’t insult groups of concerned citizens, he said.
“Don’t dismiss local communities as NIMBYs [‘not in my backyard’]. That’s insulting,” Klein said. “When we lose the public’s trust, you lose the larger fight.”

What you want
Baby, I got it
What you need
Do you know I got it?