I was going to just update my previous post, but you simply shouldn't miss reading CAKES's 2012 National Electric Transmission Congestion Study Comments.
'Nuff said. Go. Read.
'Nuff said. Go. Read.
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Check out what Bill Howley dug up over at The Power Line. It seems that a WV landowner is annoyed at PATH and the developer he bought property from that, unbeknown to him, PATH was planning to plow right through it. The developer claims that it was also unaware about PATH until after the sale.
PATH is represented by the odious and insufferable shysters from Jackson Kelly that were so much fun during the PATH CPCN case in West Virginia. The sophomoric haranguing of opponents that floats Jackson Kelly schmuck Melick's boat comes through loud and clear. Q. Did -- did anybody at PATH try to force you to sell property to them at this time? A. No. MR. BOWLES: I'm going to object to the form of the question. What does "force" mean? It's not clear. MR. MELICK: That's an English word. Q. (By Mr. Melick) Did anybody -- if you don't understand the question, I'll -- I'll explain it to.... Honestly, what a dipstick. But once you get over the vaudeville going on, reading PATH's feeble lies is interesting, in a train wreck sort of way. For instance, the Melick-clown keeps trying to insist that had the developer properly recorded the subdivision with the county that PATH would have avoided crossing through a subdivision. Hahahahahahahaaa! I seem to remember PATH's original route marching through my own subdivision (properly recorded in 1981) with such severity that 16 out of 31 existing homes would have been gone. And then there was PATH's arrogant assertion to the owners of these homes, at their dog & pony show, that these homes in the way would simply be torn down and disposed of. Way to go, fellas! :-) So what? Even if the developer didn't record the subdivision properly, it's not going to win PATH any brownie points. If you're one of the thousands of landowners who still has PATH's "suspended" project looming over your property, this might be a case worth following. In the wake of Judge Dwyer's affirmation of Frederick County, Maryland's, Board of Zoning Appeals denial of a special exception for PATH's gigantic substation last month, PATH had 30 days to file further appeals. The deadline quietly passed at the end of last week, with no further whiny filings from PATH. They've finally shut up about it, at long last! Break out the ale!
Is this another indication that PATH is precariously perched on the precipice of abandonment? C'mon, let's get on with it! No time like the present. March 28 addendum: We now have "official" quotes from PATH stating that it will not file further appeals. Although PATH's talking head claims that PATH's "rationale" (when has PATH ever made a rational decision?) for the decision is "confidential," it's more than obvious. Contentious federal abandonment hearings, where PATH will have to prove the prudence of its expenditures, are starting to become more of a certain reality to the companies. One of the incentives that the PATH Project was granted by FERC way back in 2008 was a guarantee for recovery of 100% of prudently incurred investment in the event the project is abandoned. PATH hopes to recover their approximately $140M investment in the project from ratepayers in 13 states over an as yet undetermined number of years (for their TrAILCo project, they suggested 49). When PJM put the PATH Project "in abeyance" last February 28, continued costly appeals on the substation decision were no longer prudent. "As we've discussed on numerous occasions, the proposed PATH Project, including the proposed Kemptown Substation, remains in suspension at the direction of PJM. Potomac Edison will consider its options for constructing the Kemptown Substation if the PATH Project should be re-activated by PJM," Meyers wrote. If continued legal appeals are no longer prudent, PATH's first appeal to Circuit Court was not prudent either, since it occurred after the "suspension." PATH has been spending your money willy-nilly on whatever they thought would foster the influence they would need to ram this project through state approvals. They never thought they would be challenged on their expenditures, or that their project could fail. Now they're left "holding the bucket" and this particular bucket is not full of water, electricity or money. It's chock full of something rather pungent... PJM finally made the 2011 Regional Transmission Expansion Plan available online today. It's 5 "books" of silly stuff that's going to take a long while (and a lot of coffee) to get through. PATH will continue to be "held in abeyance" in 2012. No surprise there. Just another $13M of profit for the PATH companies this year that will be paid for by you while the project continues to sit on a shelf. Here's the PATH money quote: PATH Abeyance Analysis performed during the 2010 RTEP cycle required an in service date of June 1, 2015 for the PATH Line as shown on Map 1.3. The PJM Board issued a statement on February 28, 2011, suspending the PATH line. PJM staff performed an updated analysis based on the 2011 RTEP assumptions that included Generation Deliverabilty; and Load Deliverability for the following LDA’s: MAAC, Southwest MAAC, Eastern MAAC, PEPCO and Dominion. Additional analysis performed on a 2017 study year case with 2011 RTEP assumptions examined the impacts on the PATH abeyance from Warren Generation, Global Insights load forecast, RPS, at risk generation and State DSR/EE goals. 2011 RTEP analysis suggests that the need for the PATH line has moved several years beyond 2015. Based on these analyses the PJM Board has decided to continue to hold the project in abeyance and requested that the transmission owners suspend development activities. Furthermore the PJM Board has directed staff to perform additional analysis using the 2012 RTEP assumptions and incorporating May RPM base residual auction results. In honor of this momentous occasion, the li'l Coalfella has dug up some of his trademark stupid comments, just for you:  WV Metro News reports,
"Our energy delivery to customers still remains below 2008 levels,” Colafella told MetroNews. “You're really looking at a situation that's different today than when PATH was originally proposed." PJM has continued to research the PATH project for the last year, getting updates to determine if things are changing. At this point, Colafella says the answer is "no." "The landscape today is really no different than where we were a year ago,” he said. “Supply really continues to exceed demand on the electric grid." Colafella says First Energy and Appalachian Power are following the lead of PJM. "The companies are not moving forward with the project,” he said. “At this point there aren't any activities that are underway." Except for that collection of $13M out of your wallet this year. Li'l Coalfella forgot that "activity." Looks like our li'l Coalfella isn't so hopeful about his little PATH Project anymore. Compare the above with the stupid comments he made last year: "'The investment we’ve already made won’t be lost though, because the project is not lost — just suspended,' Colafella said." The project is lost. Get on with the abandonment before your $140M investment is "lost" too. We're not going away until you do. Despite PJM's lingering uncertainty about the PATH Project, it's deader than dead at FirstEnergy. In today's Q4 2011 Earnings Call shindig in New York (which YOU get to pay for in your electric bill), there was no mention of PATH in any discussion of their transmission plans.
In fact, FE seems to have lost their taste for big joint venture projects like PATH entirely: "...one thing I don't see in our future is investing in large scale transmission projects outside of our utility footprint. We plan to stay close to home, make investments that have high certainty of completion and transparency as far as financial returns." It's probably a good thing, considering: "The skill sets acquired from Allegheny on transmission siting and construction will also be invaluable going forward as future projects are completed." Well, based on Allegheny's "skill sets" utilized in trying to site the PATH Project, good luck with that, FE! It's just too bad about any future transmission projects you may undertake with those morons "applying best practices." They got thoroughly trounced by a tri-state coalition of ordinary citizens. They're just not the brightest bulbs in the string... FirstEnergy doesn't even seem to understand why Allegheny was interested in the PATH Project in the first place: "We aren't sure on the reasons for investing in Transmission either." It was all about the money, boys! If you want to download the slides, you can find them here. As promised yesterday, here is Judge Dwyer's Order affirming the Frederick County Board of Zoning Appeals denial of PATH's application for the gigantic terminus substation.
Judge Dwyer found that the BZA committed no legal errors in their denial. He did not, as PATH had hoped he would, attempt to second-guess the BZA or make any decision on whether the Special Exception should have been permitted by the Board. "The Board utilized the substantial evidence presented to it, along with the arguments of those involved, as well as the Board's own personal knowledge stemming from a site visit to the proposed location to reach its conclusion. The substantial evidence before the Board rendered the issue fairly debatable, being sufficient enough to allow reasonable persons to reach different conclusions on the issue. Therefore, the Board's conclusion that the use of the subject property as proposed is not consistent with the purpose and intent of the Comprehensive Plan is not to be disturbed." Some may have thought the BZA was being too tough on citizens during the marathon hearings, however the Board's actions were fair and kept strictly within the law, and that dogged adherence to the letter of the law is the basis for Judge Dwyer's decision. "The Board's decision, denying Petitioner's special exception application, is supported by legally sufficient evidence. The Board properly considered all of the statutory factors required by the Code. There was sufficient evidence presented to make the grant or denial of the special exception fairly debatable. Therefore, the Court will not disturb the Board's ruling absent a showing of fraud. No showing of fraud has been alleged and therefore the Board's ruling, which is supported by legally sufficient evidence, should be affirmed." Apparently size did matter to Judge Dwyer, too: "Put simply the proposed substation is huge; it is larger than the size of the Pentagon building and measures approximately the length of 32 football fields, with towers that are higher than the Statue of Liberty." This makes the fourth resounding defeat for PATH in Frederick County, Maryland. PATH made a really stupid decision to attempt to site the terminus in a county with zoning laws. The company needs to come to grips with their stupidity and discontinue this farce of continuing, lengthy and expensive appeals for a project that is no longer needed. It costs PATH nothing to continue to legally harass and attempt to financially break the PATH opposition groups in Frederick County. All of PATH's legal costs are recoverable through their FERC Formula Rate as capital expenditures earning 12.4% return yearly. However, PATH knows that its project is heading like greased lightning toward a contentious federal abandonment battle where they must prove that their expenditures were prudent. There is no prudence in continuing this pointless battle. Any other prudently-run business would fold their hand at this point. We all owe a big "thank you" to the leadership of CAKES and Sugarloaf Conservancy, who not only did a superb job presenting their case before the BZA, but also had to contend with ensuring that their legal professionals were fully funded throughout this long, drawn out battle. You guys deserve a medal! Victory... how sweet it is! This just in, with details to follow: The Frederick County (MD) Circuit Court has affirmed the decision of the county Board of Appeals, which means that they agree with the findings of the county's zoning board -- the "Kemptown" substation does not belong in the middle of 1350 homes. Congratulations to Sugarloaf Conservancy, CAKES and their attorneys! Very well done! Thanks for all your hard work! So, what will PATH do now? Will they waste more of our money taking this to the next level? While PATH panics and postures, how about a toast to the power of citizen action?  PJM is still refusing to give up on the PATH Project boondoggle. With the 2011 RTEP just a week away, PJM continues to recommend that PATH and fellow Project Mountaineer boondoggle, MAPP, remain in the la-la land of "abeyance" until the May 2012 RPM auction. Project Mountaineer boondoggle Susquehanna-Roseland is supposedly still "needed," according to these slides.
There is no longer any "reliability" or economic justification for these projects! They simply hang around like a stale house guest and continue to cost electric consumers in thirteen states higher electric bills that they can ill afford. The last RPM auction in May 2011 showed that prices between eastern and western PJM have nearly levelized: "In PJM's MAAC area the price of capacity will be $136.50 MW-day, a decrease of about $100 from last year. (The MAAC price applies to the transmission zones of Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, Metropolitan Edison Company, Pennsylvania Electric Company, and PPL Electric Utilities, Atlantic City Electric, Delmarva Power, Jersey Central Power and Light Company, PECO, Public Service Electric and Gas Company, and Rockland Electric Company.) The non-MAAC region, will pay the RTO price of $125.99, an increase of about $100. This region includes western Pennsylvania, western Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky and Virginia. "The convergence of prices between the eastern and western regions of the market is primarily driven by the significant reduction in forecasted load growth through 2014/2015," Ott said." Any justification for Project Mountaineer has long since evaporated. "Congestion" has eased, coal-fired electricity has become more expensive, and gas-fired generation in the East Coast load pockets has become cheaper than coal-by-wire. In addition, new gas-fired generation is being proposed near load. Any supposed "reliability" or "congestion" crisis has eased. As far as Susquehanna-Roseland, PJM really needs to take a fresh look at that project. Their current plan is complete overkill. The existing line may be near the end of its useful life, however a simple rebuild may be the answer, instead of a brand new double-circuited 500kV line. It's always "one more auction" with these guys, and there is always another auction down the road for the project owners to pin their hopes on. Project Mountaineer was an embarrassing blunder on the part of PJM. Let's put it to rest, move on, and quit wasting the scarce resources of PJM electric consumers on useless boondoggles! PATH has been so busy painting a pretty picture of their bookkeeping prowess for FERC that they neglected to look over their shoulder and see where they were headed -- right into a corner.
See Keryn & Ali's Response to PATH's latest Answer (answer to an answer to an answer to an answer). The exhibit to the Response can be found here. Unfortunately, it gets pretty far afield into the technical, accounting weeds, but if you've been following along, it might just click. In summation, if PATH's previous X = Y equation is true, they've got a lot of explaining to do, and continuing to file Answers before the Commission is the wrong procedure to reveal and correct PATH's continual errors. Challengers end with another request for FERC to audit PATH's "books and records." Now let's see what happens when PATH tries to tippy-toe out of that corner they have painted themselves into... A Response to PATH's Answer to the Formal Challenge was filed at FERC today.
PATH's got lots of problems, but probably the simplest to explain here is that their accountants don't know whether to add or subtract. It does make a difference! Instead of learning when to add and when to subtract, PATH wastes the Commission's time whining that: "Clearly, Challengers Newman and Haverty are individuals who are opposed to the PATH Project. (Footnoted: Challenge p. 14 ("the PATH Project can no longer be justified."); see also http://www.stoppathwv.com/stoppathwv-blog.html. (Stop PATH WV, Inc. is an organization comprised of citizens who object to the PATH Project)." PATH should be ashamed of themselves for incorrectly quoting small portions of larger sentences without proper indication, and for calling the "wahhhhmbulance" again. The complete quote that they cherry picked from reads "Stop PATH WV, Inc. is a registered 501(c)4 social justice grassroots organization comprised of ordinary citizens who object to the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline because it is not needed, it is not wanted, it is destructive to West Virginia, and it is an obstacle to meaningful reform of U.S. energy policy." And the page they got it from (which was not the Blog) contains the title "www.stoppathwv.com - Jefferson County, WV" (not Calhoun Co., WV). Perhaps PATH should spend more time learning proper format for quotes in legal documents and the difference between debits and credits, and less time reading StopPATHWV Blog. Does anyone's opposition to the PATH Project cause Allegheny/FirstEnergy to make incredibly stupid accounting mistakes? No, they make those all on their own. The only assistance they get from StopPATH is a little publicity. Newman and Haverty have filed both Formal Challenges pro se, as individuals. Neither are representing StopPATH WV, Inc. in the matter, because then they'd have to be lawyers. StopPATH WV, Inc. has NOTHING to do with any of PATH's problems at FERC. While Newman is a member of StopPATH WV, Inc., Haverty is not. But, both Challengers are also members of lots of other organizations that PATH failed to mention, and for which they did not provide the FERC Commissioners with web links. PATH's lawyers need to do a little more research, in order to find other member organizations to which Challengers belong and whine about those organizations too in their legal filings. PATH seems to think that we go out of our way to make them look bad when the reality is that PATH manages to look bad all by itself, no assistance needed. Finding errors in PATH's financial filings is like shooting fish in a barrel. |
About the Author Keryn Newman blogs here at StopPATH WV about energy issues, transmission policy, misguided regulation, our greedy energy companies and their corporate spin.
In 2008, AEP & Allegheny Energy's PATH joint venture used their transmission line routing etch-a-sketch to draw a 765kV line across the street from her house. Oooops! And the rest is history. About
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