We've had a very entertaining day today in Charleston!  From delegates, to senators, to governor, there isn't much we haven't done.

Party in room 705 -- plenty of Raging Bitch Ale and Il Bastardo wine for all...

It looks like Charles Ryan isn't going to confess their secret, so tune in tomorrow to find out what they've done...

We dropped in on the Dominion Power Mt. Storm - Doubs Open House event on Thursday night before heading over to the public hearing in Purcellville.

What a difference a little honesty makes!  Instead of one of PATH's Charlie Foxtrot Open Houses, this one was pleasant and low-key:  I didn't hear one person raise their voice; there was no "security" needed; and no pictures were required!  What I did see/hear was landowners getting their questions answered, the media being invited to talk with citizens by Dominion personnel, StopPATH WV being permitted to hand out their own information; and the promise to treat landowners fairly and with respect during the rebuild project.  There was also a bit of laughter, but it just wouldn't be nice to point out the person who was the butt of the joke now, would it?  He knows who he is ;-)

Dominion needs to realize that StopPATH WV takes a promise seriously though, and the clock starts now.  One of the main purposes of our organization is social justice, which includes ensuring that landowners and citizens are treated fairly during this project.  If you feel that Dominion isn't treating you fairly, we want to know about it.  This would also include Dominion removing their old foundations to at least a 4-foot depth on farmland so that they won't interfere with tilling, right fellas?  Doing this extra bit of work doesn't cost Dominion anything since the cost of this project is being socialized among PJM's 51-million ratepayers and isn't costing them a dime.  And it's only fair to the farmers not to leave landmines behind that are going to damage very expensive farming equipment.

The Mt. Storm - Doubs rebuild is a good start on Dominion's Alternative One to the PATH project, but it is only a start.  Rebuilding and modernizing of aging transmission infrastructure will vastly improve the reliability and capacity of the grid without requiring additional sacrifices from landowners, environmental destruction, and the waste of billions of dollars building new transmission projects.  The first step has now been taken, so let's get on with a solution that is win-win for everyone involved and makes perfect sense.  Afterall, you wouldn't go buy a brand new car when your current vehicle needs an oil change, would you?  Why would you build a new transmission line when repair of an existing one is much cheaper and satisfies the need?

Here's an article about the Open House that was published in today's Journal.

After complaining that no one invited them to the party, PATH has now decided that they don't want to party with Frederick County afterall.  The previously scheduled PATH transmission line Planning Commission hearing on January 19 has been canceled.

Today's news is that PATH has requested their placement on the Planning Commission's Agenda be "postponed" until some unknown future date.

I suspected that they weren't really looking forward to being questioned, laughed at and disparaged by the citizens of Frederick County again, but you'd think they could at least be man enough to admit that they don't really want a "do-over" afterall.  Leave it to PATH to run away screaming like a little girl with a bee in her knickers.  Eerie!

The Frederick County (MD) Board of Zoning Appeals Rehearing on PATH's application for a special exception for their gigantic substation in Mt. Airy has been scheduled for this Thursday, December 16, at 7:00 p.m. at Winchester Hall in Frederick.  No public comment will be taken, however everyone is encouraged to attend and show their opposition to PATH's whiny request for rehearing.

Frederick News Post article about the upcoming hearing.  Seems like nobody can resist taking jabs at Cannon's inane word choice in the request for rehearing.  Eerie!  Bring your ghost meter and EMF detector, we're going on a paranormal adventure Thursday night!  Ooooh!  Scary!  :-)

A couple of us attended the Maryland Public Service Commission's public hearing on the matter of the merger of Allegheny Energy and First Energy in Frederick, Maryland, last night.

All five PSC Commissioners showed up!  Imagine that!  Unfortunately the sparse crowd was probably about equal in number of citizens vs. power company drones.  The first speaker gave me that ol' deja vu shilly feeling when he very briefly said he supported the merger because it would mean more jobs, and probably reduced rates, but he really didn't know about any of that.  Umm, yeah, kid, I think you're right about that last part.  The merger only guarantees jobs for 2 years... then you're all in the old unemployment line, and that reduced rates thing is a fantasy.  You obviously didn't read the filing at all -- you just did what you were told.

Next speaker was Nick Carrera, from one of the Maryland opposition groups, but I believe he was speaking personally last night.  He used a map to point out how the new lines feeding out of PATH's proposed Mt. Airy substation are heading into First Energy territory.  Coincidence?  Nick didn't make it seem that way.  Great job, Nick!!

I spoke briefly about how West Virginians were shut out of the merger in our state and because our Consumer Advocate cut a deal, there were no public hearings to attend in my own state.  And speaking of that deal, Maryland should be leery of one of the "perks" we got in West Virginia, where the companies agree not to charge merger costs to ratepayers.  Why?  Because Allegheny's accounting is less than honest.  I also shared the mention of the merger in Morningstar that was featured on The Power Line.  In the article, Allegheny management confides that First Energy isn't interested in their transmission business and will probably sell it off.  Last topic was First Energy's fault in the 2003 blackout.  "It wasn’t until the lights went out in the First Energy control room that the First Energy personnel had a solid indication that the problem was indeed in their service territory (and not somewhere else)."

A couple of representatives from the Sierra Club spoke about the issues surrounding all the dirty energy produced by the companies, and unfortunately I missed most of it because I got notified that the interior light was on in my car back in Charles Town and the good samaritan trying to save me from a dead battery couldn't figure out how to turn it off.  At least that didn't happen while I was still at the podium :-)

A gentleman complained about outrageous reconnection fees after a late payment.  He was "taken care of" by Allegheny drones at the meeting.  And what have the rest of us gotten by complaining about Allegheny?  Oh, that's right, we get a power line in our backyards.  Sweet!

Some Frederick City guy and a Frederick Chamber of Commerce guy came to the podium and brown nosed the companies in a shameless fashion in the hopes that the promised "regional headquarters" would be located in Frederick.  That depends, fellas, how do you feel about a gigantic substation?  What a revolting display!  And that brings us to...

One more last note about my buddy Todd Meyers... who rolled his eyes and made faces while I was speaking.  Is that what they taught you at PR flack school?  You know, Todd, nobody could see what you were doing EXCEPT THE PSC COMMISSIONERS and a friend of mine who turned around and looked at you while I was speaking.  I see there's absolutely no danger that Todd may be getting any smarter over time.

Frederick News Post's article about the hearing, where Ed Waters managed to misquote me in just one sentence.  I talked about Allegheny's financials, not First Energy's.

A few of us attended Dominion Power's Open House on their Mt. Storm-Doubs rebuild last night in Winchester.  Overall, it was a pleasant experience, certainly nothing like one of PATH's charlie foxtrot "public meetings".  There were no "raised voices" or commotion, at least while I was there, although I hear that one arrogant, little weasel got knocked down a peg or two after I left.  He deserved it though  -- I walked away from him after about 30 seconds because his "issues" were readily apparent and I wasn't looking to get into an argument.

Here's some of the stuff we found out last night:

1.  The rebuild will reduce EMF approximately 10 - 12%, and that's only due to the towers being higher.  Let's do the math - 10% of 292 mG is 29.2, leaving the EMF level at 263 mG.  That's not much of an improvement, is it?  Dominion has the same, stupid, industry line about how EMF is not harmful.  Now you know why the arrogant "little man" got taken to task.

2.  Dominion says that their PATH alternatives are still being considered by PJM, and this rebuild is certainly featured in all the alternatives.  However, Dominion took an official hardline position last night that this rebuild is being ordered by PJM because of structural issues with the current towers and has nothing to do with PATH.  PJM is everyone's favorite scapegoat!

3.  Dominion's "Alternative Number 1" (see link in #2 above) also contains a proposal to rebuild the Mt. Storm-Pruntytown line,  however this line is owned by Allegheny Energy.  The last two miles or so of the Mt. Storm-Doubs line are also owned by Allegheny Energy.  Dominion has no idea what Allegheny is doing regarding rebuilding on their sections... which I read to mean they are doing nothing.  Hoping these cheap, easy alternatives to PATH will go away so they can concentrate on their PATH project and it's 14.3% profit instead?  Guess they'd better put their pointed, little PR brains together and come up with a good excuse for that!

4.  Dominion doesn't have much information about what PATH is proposing to do with sections of rebuild of the Mt. Storm-Doubs line in Jefferson County.  They are under the impression that the location of their current ROW won't change and therefore will proceed with the rebuild without enlarging or changing their current ROW.  However, PATH has other plans for moving the Mt. Storm-Doubs line, hence the necessity of the rebuild sections in PATH's plan.  Funny looks on the Dominion engineers faces when they finally "got it" that they may be forced into the position of acquiring new ROWs.  Then they decided that they will just proceed with the rebuild on their current ROW, even if that means that PATH will come along in a year or so and tear down their brand new towers and shift the line onto new ROW.  Is that your wallet I hear screaming?  Why on earth would we be forced to pay for the tear-down and rebuild of a brand new section of line so PATH can construct their monstrosity?  Also, why on earth should property owners be forced to endure TWO tear-downs, rebuilds on these two 2-mile sections of line in Jefferson County?  Hello?  Left Hand?  I'd like to introduce you to Right Hand.  Get your crap together here, guys!

5.  Who's paying for this?  We are, of course!  Because the rebuild involves a line of 500kV, this project is paid for by all the ratepayers in the PJM region, just like PATH, except without that nifty 14.3% profit added on top like the cherry on a sundae.

6.  Dominion does not need to go through the full-blown application process in WV as they do in VA.  Something was filed with the WV-PSC in September or October and our PSC is considering the proposal.  I haven't had time to look this up yet.  Any takers?  Let me know what you find.

I could go on and on here, but I won't.  If you have specific questions, contact us.  I urge you to come to the Open House tonight in Lovettsville if you're the least bit curious.  I found most of the Dominion guys to be friendly and pleasant to talk with.  Not a bad experience at all.

The Frederick County, Maryland, Board of Zoning Appeals finally completed the hearing process on PATH's application for a special exception to construct their gigantic substation in Mt. Airy during a marathon 13-hour session on Saturday.  Because of the amount of written testimony and evidence submitted on Saturday, the Board did not issue a decision at the conclusion of the hearing.  They were probably as tired as the rest of us last night at 10 p.m.!  The Board will issue its decision this coming Thursday, November 18, at 7:00 p.m. during one of it's regularly scheduled meetings.  The meeting will be held in Winchester Hall, 12 E. Church Street, Frederick, MD, and the public is welcome to attend, even those who don't reside in Frederick County.  Let's pack the house again, folks!

Due to other commitments, we were late to arrive at Saturday's hearing and missed the great formal presentations by the groups Citizens Against the Kemptown Electric Substation (CAKES), Sugarloaf Conservancy and the Sierra Club.  When we arrived in the late afternoon, they were well into general public comment.  The amount of well thought out argument, research and salient points covered by the citizens of Frederick County continues to amaze me!  Everyone who spoke was articulate, intelligent and had something interesting and unique to contribute.  A couple that were very compelling:  The woman who did the research on the other substations in the United States that one of the PATH witnesses brought up at an earlier portion of the hearing in an attempt to "normalize" PATH's proposal as something in operation in many other communities.  Another was the gentleman who brought up the 5 ton weight limit on all the roads leading to the substation site.  Does PATH think their gigantic substation is really going to float down out of the sky as portrayed in their silly Truescape video?  When questioned, one of PATH's rebuttal witnesses admitted that construction would take approximately 4 years.  Four long years of torn up roads, huge equipment being moved on site, noise, dust, disturbance and danger... are you serious?

There was also some very poignant, eloquent and emotional testimony given by several citizens and a pair of charming young ladies, who moved the board and the audience (well, those capable of emotion anyhow, which leaves out those sitting in the two front rows on the left side of the hall).

During rebuttal, PATH presented a string of witnesses that had not testified earlier, causing the Board pause to consider whether these witnesses should be cross-examined (oh, please, no!  this would have added a few more days to the process!) but eventually made the decision to let PATH's attempt to circumvent the process by introducing new witnesses during rebuttal slide.

One of these witnesses was Robert Dahlin of Kenney Construction of Hagerstown.  Hagerstown?  Really?  This is only a temporary office in place for the duration of the PATH project.  What would a transmission line contractor need a local office for if PATH wasn't being planned?  Anyhow, Dahlin testified that PATH will bring 130 construction jobs to Frederick County.... total, overall, during the four-year construction period, probably no more than 50 at any one time.  He also mentioned that many (I'd bet nearly all of them) would be filled by specialty workers from other parts of the country on temporary assignment.  However, Frederick County would "benefit" from the revenue these Motel 6 transients sprinkled upon the community with their fast food meals, trips to the laundromat and Walmart shopping sprees.  Seriously, where does PATH think they are?

Another great witness was Jay Goldman, PATH's WV real estate values expert.  He testified that he disagreed with the local Maryland real estate values expert that had testified earlier in the day and then spent an inordinate amount of time extolling the virtues of subdivisions in the Charleston, WV area from which he hails.  These subdivisions are surrounded by transmission lines, small distribution substations, railroad tracks, water towers, landfills and public housing and have a lovely view of the John Amos coal-fired power plant's huge smokestacks and the homes still sell for a million dollars!  He later brought that figure down to around $600K, but assured the Board that Charlestonians are falling all over themselves to live in these exclusive subdivisions.  Does he also moonlight as a script writer for The Simpsons?  I was approached during the break after this witness by several of my friends from Frederick County who were both appalled and amused at this guy, but I think amusement finally won the day.  Smooth move, PATH!  That's why your legal brains get paid the big bucks!!

The third witness talked about borings, groundwater and drainage, but honestly, he wasn't making sense and was so "boring" himself that I nearly fell asleep.  The person sitting next to me actually did fall asleep but was polite enough not to snore.

The Board of Zoning Appeals deserves our effusive thanks for the professionalism and patience they displayed throughout this long, long process, no matter the decision they reach on Thursday.  Glad that's over... although we finally found a great little restaurant and brewery nearby.  We may have to come back to Frederick soon for absolutely no reason at all except great beer!

Link to Frederick News Post Article about the hearing.  Be sure to read the comments -- pretty funny!