I'll give the investor owned utilities credit for their persistence.  They simply refuse to give up on the idea of putting FERC in charge of high voltage electric transmission permitting and siting.

Less than three weeks ago, the Department of Energy declined to officially delegate their authority to designate National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors to FERC.  This stunningly bad idea was the brainchild of former FERC Commissioner and current NextEra Energy lobbyist Joe Kelliher as a way to provide free transportation for his company's wind power resources to coastal load centers.  Transmission lines aren't paid for by the utilities who invest their capital in the project, they are ultimately paid for by the ratepayers, with delicious double-digit incentive rates of return for the energy companies.  Building unneeded new transmission lines is a cash cow for the utilities.

Today, Platts reports that new House legislation has been introduced that will give FERC the authority to site transmission lines and repeal the DOE's NIETC authority and replace it with a new FERC authority to designate transmission planning regions.  Same stupid idea, different game plan.

This version of the game is credited to Jim Hoecker, former FERC chairman and lobbyist for the WIRES front group.  Those former FERC Commissioners now raking in the millions by returning to the industry that spawned them in the first place are a dime a dozen.

Here's how it's supposed to work:

"These regions would then propose for FERC's approval high-votage transmission projects already included in the planning process.

Regional transmission planners could propose that FERC grant certificates for specific projects and the bill would require the commission to give these planners "substantial deference" for such requests.

The proposal also would permit FERC to issue permits to build interstate transmission lines.

The issuance of FERC certificates is modeled on FERC's gas pipeline siting authority, but the bill stops short of giving the commission eminent domain to order the construction of any line over the objection of affected landowners.

It also would retain states' authority to make decisions in the siting of local transmission lines."

Okay, so they have given FERC the authority to issue permits, and then "retain states' authority" by making them the bad guys who grant eminent domain to the power companies.  No matter how they sugar-coat it, THIS PREEMPTS EXISTING STATE AUTHORITY, just like the industry lobbyists' last plan!

Once again, the investor owned utilities who stand to rake in huge profits with a new, free and easy, FERC-run, national siting and permitting policy state that:

"Sensenbrenner (who sponsored this wonderful *awful* idea) "appears to recognize that the national interest transmission corridor designation process is broken," Hoecker said."

And

"There is latitude on the part of the agencies but this would be a departure from the broad geographic approach implemented under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and therefore would likely draw congressional attention," Plaushin said."

Awww... cut the false modesty.  It's going to draw lots more attention than just that of Congress...

According to this article, PJM has blinked during the stare-down it's been having with the New Jersey BPU:

"The independent operator of the regional power grid is moving to make a series of changes to its system. Its goal: fix impediments that even it agrees has helped thwart the development of new power plants, something the Christie administration has been pursuing for more than a year.

PJM detailed several steps it is taking to expedite new power plants, including overhauling its much criticized generation interconnection system. The system is designed to ensure that new power plants tying into the regional grid do not lessen its reliability by requiring high voltage lines to carry more power than they are capable of.  The interconnection process has been blamed for the time it takes to win approval as well as driving up costs for those developers seeking to build new power plants.

Michael Kormos, senior vice president of PJM, said the organization is considering retooling the process to allow it to "fast track" developers that are ready to move forward with their projects, a proposal suggested by Hess Corp, which is one of the three projects to win subsidies from New Jersey.

PJM also is considering having independent parties do the studies of what interconnection upgrades are needed when a new power supplier is trying to hook into the grid. That comes in response to questions raised by New Jersey whether there is a conflict of interest with existing transmission owners doing the studies, as is now the case, because of potential benefits that could derive to an affiliate if the required upgrades discourage new plant construction."

The article says that it's too little, too late though, and PJM's last minute swerve won't go far enough to resolve the dispute.

"If anything, the rhetoric seems to be turning more heated, with state officials talking about investigating whether structural market power exercised by incumbent generators creates barriers to the entry of new suppliers.

"We shouldn't gloss over the issue of market power," said Stefanie Brand, director of the Division of Rate Counsel. "I think the board should look at it more closely."

At a day-long hearing held in the Statehouse Friday, PJM officials and power suppliers dismissed that allegation, saying studies by independent monitors have found no evidence of such behavior. Instead, several consultants argued that New Jersey's own efforts to encourage power plant development are undermining the competitive market and discouraging investment in the state."

Yeah, right, PJM, guilty much?

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities held another public hearing yesterday regarding their plan to use ratepayer subsidies to fund the cost of three new, state-of-the-art gas-fired power plants.  Board President Lee Solomon said that it's too late to turn back now because New Jersey's LCAPP is a law he is obligated to pursue.  The State of New Jersey says that inadequate generation in the state is causing higher electricity prices.  New Jersey contends that PJM's markets aren't encouraging the development of new generation in constrained areas as they are designed to do, and they intend to find out how manipulation of the market by large, out-of-state energy corporations is causing PJM's system to fail.

Of course, there was no shortage of front groups who are funded by these large, out-of-state energy corporations that control New Jersey's market at yesterday's hearing.  Industry-funded front groups who showed up to oppose New Jersey's plan included the New Jersey Energy Coalition, a front group funded by Exelon which was originally intended to protect their Oyster Creek nuke plant.  Also on hand to pretend that New Jersey's plan will hurt competition in electricity markets was industry-funded and directed front group Compete Coalition.  The Compete Coalition, despite their purported advocacy for competitive markets, is actually working against competition in order to retain market share for their corporate "members," says the American Public Power Association.  APPA is a group representing the interests of community-owned electric utilities.

NJ.com has an interesting article demonstrating Compete's third-party propaganda tactics.  When asked about their opposition to New Jersey's plan, the two New Jersey-based companies whose names appeared on a letter submitted to the Governor's office by the Coalition said that they were asked to sign it by their energy providers (the big companies funding the Coalition).  Neither company knew anything about the controversy or why they were supporting the Coalition's position.  Obviously, they didn't write (or even read) the letter before signing on.

Ah, the energy corporations and their front groups... always an entertaining show.  When are they going to realize that no one is drinking their koolaid anymore?

It doesn't look like New Jersey is fooled either and they're not backing down.  Stay tuned to see how this one plays out.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu declined today to pass DOE's authority to designate National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  A scheme for FERC to take over corridor designation was proposed by energy company lobbyists earlier this year and recently championed by FERC, the industry and certain "environmental" groups whose misguided enthusiasm for renewable energy turned them into the perfect patsies for championing new long distance transmission lines. Individual states, who have always had authority over transmission lines within their borders, along with a member of Congress and other environmental organizations who live in the real world, vehemently opposed the transfer of authority.

Don't kid yourself by thinking the battle is over.  DOE's statement says they "will work more closely with the FERC in reviewing proposed electric transmission projects under section 216 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), as an alternative to delegating additional authority to FERC."

So, in other words, instead of officially giving FERC the authority, DOE is just going to let FERC unofficially run the show.  FERC's plans included allowing transmission developers to designate corridors at will when proposing a new transmission project.  DOE's plan includes this as well.  In addition, DOE says they will:

• Begin immediately to identify targeted areas of congestion based on the evaluation of existing information and on comments submitted by stakeholders;
  
• Identify narrower areas of congestion than the broad areas previously studied; and
• Solicit statements of interest from transmission developers while considering what National Corridors to designate.

Just because a transmission developer wants to build a project does not mean "congestion" exists.  As well, transmission is probably the most expensive, most environmentally unfriendly, and least "reliable" solution to "congestion." 

At the same time, you've got FERC considering an update of their transmission incentives through a Notice of Inquiry.  Over a hundred sets of comments were submitted in that docket (RM11-26-000) and present a clear picture of what's driving development of new transmission development.  Money.  Transmission projects, whether they are "needed" or not, provide a tidy income for energy corporations and investors.  Since transmission projects are funded in their totality by electric consumers, the building of unnecessary transmission infrastructure has the potential to send electric rates skyrocketing.

Keep watching this one to see how much of FERC's original plan to anoint itself with federal transmission siting and permitting authority ends up being carried out in DOE's name.

This charlie foxtrot has reached critical mass.  Why are we still operating under 6 year old energy policy?  Six years ago, FERC, regional grid operator PJM, politicians and the energy industry thought expanded uses for coal fired resources was a good idea.  Energy and how we use it has come a long way since then.  The only smart solution is for Congress to develop new energy policy instead of observing and complaining while the energy industry, their lobbyists and the government political appointees manipulate bad policy to continue on this transmission highway to hell at electric consumer expense.

Radix malorum est cupiditas.

The "Rapid Response Transmission Team's" pilot project to "fast track" seven transmission projects has been written about ad nauseam.  Unfortunately, most of the reasons given by various government officials for this "fast tracking" it is pure fabrication.  Let's take a look at some of the claims being made:

1. Will create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.  Will put America "back to work."  Have you noticed that there's nothing to back up this claim?  Ten thousand jobs on 7 transmission line projects is an absurd number!  They're probably counting the same workers on different projects as different "jobs" in order to inflate this figure, if they are counting anything at all.  For all we know, the administration pulled this number out of their... hat.  As we have seen here in West Virginia during the construction of the TrAIL transmission line and the planning of the PATH transmission line, all the temporary jobs associated with a new transmission project go to out-of-state companies who import workers for the duration of whatever specialized task related to construction is being performed.  The transmission project owners hire a general contractor (for TrAIL & PATH it was Kenny Construction, an Illinois company).  Land clearing and road construction (Supreme Industries, Connecticut), wires (PAR Electrical Contractors, Texas), land acquisition (Contract Land Services, Texas), engineering and environmental (Burns & McDonnell, Missouri; Louis Berger Group, New Jersey) and every other aspect of the project will be bid on by and awarded to specialized, out-of-state companies who do this type of work on location as their business.  When a helicopter crashed while stringing wire for the TrAIL project, it turned out to be owned by an Oregon company, and the workers on board were from Georgia, Kentucky and Indiana.  All these professionals already have jobs -- their job is to construct a certain specialized portion of transmission lines on temporary location.  A transmission company will not be hiring local labor or putting anyone "back to work."
2. New transmission projects will "upgrade the grid."  New transmission lines won't do a thing about existing, 40 year old transmission lines.  There are no plans to remove or take current lines permanently out of service.  New transmission projects are simply an addition that does nothing to "upgrade" our current grid.  The new lines are high capacity projects intended to trade electricity over long distances.  What we should be doing to "upgrade the grid" is rebuilding existing transmission lines completely within existing rights-of-way to increase their capacity and update their technology.
   
3. Will give consumers "more energy choices."  You're not going to be getting a "choice" of where your electricity comes from.  Electrons can't be categorized by source -- whether wind, solar, coal, gas or hydro generates your electricity, it's all mixed up in transmission lines.  While you may be able to choose your own electric provider, you will never be able to choose your transmission company or energy source.  Your local electric provider buys power off the grid for the cheapest price it can, no matter who or where it comes from.
4. Will transport renewable energy.  Not necessarily.  The Susquahanna Roseland project, one of the 7 "pilot" projects, is part of PJM's Project Mountaineer, a scheme to transport an additional 5000 MW of coal-fired electricity from the Ohio Valley to the East Coast.  Check out this post on The Power Line to learn how some of the other projects are really intended to increase reliance on coal-fired electricity.  See also Piedmont Environmental Council's coal dressed as wind map.
   
5. Will accommodate the growing number of electric vehicles on America’s roads.  A transmission line by itself does not provide electricity for cars or anything else.  A power generating source does.  Locate more of them in close proximity to the "growing number of electric cars" and you're in business.  Transmission lines are NOT needed to power electric cars.  In fact, some are thinking about using the batteries from plugged in electric cars to provide additional power to the grid at times of peak demand.  Seems that the grid needs the cars more than the cars need the grid.
   
6. Will help avoid blackouts.  This has to be the most ridiculous "reason" to "fast track" transmission projects.  Additional wire in the air does not make a system more reliable.  Out-of-control grid additions will actually make it LESS reliable and prone to blackouts as control of the grid gets more complicated and harder to manage.  The most reliable "grid" is one where generation is located as close as possible to use.  We don't need more transmission lines to avoid blackouts, we need more generation of power on a small, localized scale close to where it will be consumed -- distributed generation!
   
7. Will enable restoration of power more quickly when outages occur.  No, it won't.  An outage is an outage -- until it's repaired, it will exist.  Most of the outages experienced by consumers are due to faults in the DISTRIBUTION system, not the TRANSMISSION system.  Distribution lines bring power from a substation in your area to your home.  Transmission lines transport electricity from a generating source to a substation.  If your power is out, another transmission line isn't going to get it back on any faster, unless the distribution system that brings it to your house or business is repaired first.
   
8. Will reduce the need for new power plants.  As stated above, a transmission line without a generation source is just a wire.  If we need more electricity, it has to be produced by new power plants.  To really trip up the idiots parroting this myth, ask them how these transmission lines will increase renewable power if no new wind or solar farms (power plants) are built.  Then have fun debating further about which came first, the chicken or the egg.
9. Getting a new transmission project permitted takes a decade or longer and must be "fast tracked."  Allegheny Energy's TrAIL project went from drawing board to reality in 5 years.  Other recent projects have been built in less than 10 years.  A transmission project that drags on for 10 years or more is rare.  Most projects that can't get approved are cancelled or withdrawn voluntarily by their owners or regional transmission organizations when the need for them cannot be demonstrated. 
   
10. Will serve as important links across our country to increase our power grid’s capacity and reliability.  Who says we need to increase our grid's capacity from coast to coast?  The industry, who wants to turn electricity into a commodity to be traded over great distances in order to make a hefty profit.  They're not doing it out of the goodness of their corporate personhood hearts in order to "give you more choices" and "make electricity cheaper."  Gimme an E, gimme an N, gimme an R, gimme an O, gimme an N.  What does that spell?  Enron!  Enron!  Rah!  Rah!  Rah!  In addition, these "important links across our country" will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to construct that will be paid for by electric consumers, raising your electric rates.
    
11. Will move our nation toward energy independence.  "Energy independence?"  What is that?  The vast majority of electricity in this country is produced from coal and natural gas, both domestically plentiful.  In order to be truly "energy independent," install your own solar or wind system and stop feeding at the corporate energy trough of centralized power generation and expensive transmission lines.  Those "economies of scale" are getting smaller and smaller as the cost of new transmission lines to transport centralized generation get added to their cost, while the price of installing your own solar generating system gets cheaper and cheaper.
    
12. Will promote energy savings.  No, new transmission projects will make your cost of electricity go up.  Someone has to pay for the new transmission projects (and profits to their developers) and that someone is Y-O-U!  Another way to make energy cheaper is to locate new generation near load.  Transmission lines will not "promote energy savings."
13. Will increase energy efficiency.  Not in your wildest dreams!  There's nothing "efficient" about transporting electricity hundreds or thousands of miles.  Transmission lines "leak" electricity.  The longer the distance, the more electricity is lost and wasted.  Go hold a fluorescent light tube underneath a transmission line at night, if you don't believe me.
    
14. Will "speed up" federal environmental reviews.  Let me introduce you to NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act.  It's a LAW.  The only way to speed up a law is to circumvent it.  Is the Obama administration suggesting that the federal government break the law?  Seems that way if the rumors that the outcome of the NEPA review of the Susquehanna Roseland project has already been "fixed" by agency heads in collusion with industry lobbyists.

I know there are more, so I'm asking you to add to the list.  A few days ago, I found a long article with vapid quotes from all the federal agency heads who don't know diddley squat about the electric grid that had me snorting with laughter.  Unfortunately, being away from home for 5 days with only a blackberry and a borrowed, crappy microsoft pc (not recommended!) caused me to lose the source of my mirth.  The myths are out there...

The Powerline has been doing a fine job of analyzing the preposterous "RRTT" scheme announced by the seemingly witless Obama administration yesterday.  The industry-driven Really Ridiculous Tendentious Team smacks of political and governmental malfeasance at the hands of a greedy and arrogant industry.

If the Obama administration had bothered to research any of the propaganda they've been spreading, they would have quickly realized that they're being taken for a ride by a frustrated and dying industry that will stoop to new depths of depravity in order to sink their greedy claws into the American consumer one final time in an attempt to maintain their obsolete business model.

The new transmission line projects selected for the "pilot project" will not make electricity cheaper or more reliable.  The billions of dollars spent on these projects will be recovered from electric consumers, along with "incentive" rates of return of 12% or more, providing their energy conglomerate owners with a steady source of income for decades at a time when demand for electricity is decreasing due to increased efficiency and demand management.  Additional long distance transmission lines will be connected with existing, unmaintained, technologically obsolete, and decrepit transmission infrastructure.  Trading electric power over hundreds of miles as a commodity will make our grid subject to increased risk of massive failure.  The most reliable power source is located as close as possible to where it is used.

The contention that these transmission projects will create "thousands" of jobs is completely disingenuous.  Building high voltage transmission is a highly skilled and technical endeavor undertaken by only a handful of experienced general contractors.  They won't be hiring local workers, but instead subcontracting with other specialized companies who bring their own employees and whose business is following these projects from place to place.  The only "jobs" that will be created would be a by-product of the imported labor temporarily living in cheap motels and eating at your local McDonalds.  Bottom Line:  Temporary jobs for workers from other states whose employment future is already secure.  It's not going to do anything for the local unemployed who don't have experience building high voltage transmission lines.

A statement from PEER quoted today said:

"The Secretary and the Director have unofficially committed to the companies that the NPS will select Alternative 2, the alternative preferred by the companies but which is the most damaging to the resources and scenery of the parks.  In return, the companies have reportedly agreed to pay $60 million for land acquisition and administration inside and near the NRA."

Now the companies who stand to make a huge profit off the Susquehanna Roseland project are resorting to greasing the skids with financial inducements in an attempt to buy off the National Park Service in return for approving their unneeded and destructive project.  However, "the companies" aren't "paying $60 million for land acquisition."  The acquisition of land for the S-R project is a capital expense that will be recovered from electric consumers as part of the project, with 12.8% interest every year for PPL and PSEG, over the expected useful life of the project.  That's right... the power companies are attempting to buy off the NPS with YOUR money! 

PEER is the acronym for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.  Its members are public employees who cannot publicly speak out against corruption for fear of losing their jobs.  A document on PEER's site, written by someone "on the inside" claims:

 "PPL and PSE&G have, understandably, sought to gain approval from NPS officials of the power line route that the companies seek. Towards that end, company representatives and lobbyists have met repeatedly with Secretary Salazar, his deputies former Assistant Secretary Strickland, Deputy Secretary Hayes, NPS Director Jarvis and former Deputy Director Wenk. PEER is attempting to obtain a list of the meeting dates during 2009-11, which would be a first step toward establishing the degree of project proponent’s attempt to influence the decision-making process. There is nothing criminal or improper about meetings by themselves. However, what is suspect is the degree to which high level officials of the DOI and NPS have countermanded and overruled local park managers in manipulating the NEPA review process to reach the outcome demanded by PPL and PSE&G.

For at least three years, the NPS has been developing an environmental impact statement (EIS) to consider the PPL/PSE&G proposal, following the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and NEPA rules, adopted by the Council on Environmental Quality. The draft EIS is expected to be announced for public comment before the end of 2011.

But in the last ninety days, under relentless pressure from the companies and their lobbyists, the Department has short-circuited the NEPA processes. NPS Director Jarvis has ordered that the draft EIS include at least one alternative (#2B) demanded by the companies that is untenable from a safety perspective. He also ordered that the draft NOT consider at least two other alternatives that were reasonable and would lessen impacts to the park’s scenery (#6 and 7). The reason behind these orders is that the companies do not want the NEPA process slowed down by consideration of the other alternatives.

More damaging is that the Secretary and the Director have reportedly unofficially committed to the companies that the NPS will select Alternative 2, the alternative demanded by the companies. It is one thing to select an alternative AFTER the conclusion of the NEPA process, but is something else to decide on the alternative BEFORE the process is even announced to the public for comment. Even worse than this procedural violation, the alternative the Secretary and Director have already decided upon, Alternative 2, is one of the worst for the resources and scenery of the parks. To be sure, they have exacted a price from the companies – a reported $60 million for land acquisition and administration inside and within the vicinity of the NRA in exchange for giving the companies the corridor they want.

Alternative 2 is among the worst of the alternatives insofar as impact on the scenery of the parks. Yet, the Interior Department decisions culminated in the late summer of 2011 with verbal assurances to adopt the companies’ alternative by Secretary Salazar and Director Jarvis themselves in a meeting with company officials this past summer.

Unfortunately and despite the clear mandates of the law, these top officials are paving a path so that the Roseland to Susquehanna Overland Transmission Project will impair the core values of Delaware Water Gap and the Appalachian Trail."

The NPS is also being pushed by their own internal throne of political skullduggery, under the influence of corporate lobbyists, to look the other way and approve the project.  Outrageous!

The Obama adminstration is so desperate to push their "jobs" agenda that they've now sold their soul to the Great American Corporate Satan.  Welcome to Hell, America!

Here's more on the situation between the New Jersey BPU, PJM and FERC and industry manipulation of New Jersey's energy market.

As reported last week, New Jersey wants to site several new gas fired generation plants in New Jersey in order to bring down the price of electricity in the state.  The high prices are caused by lack of generation near load.  PJM pretends that the markets it runs encourage market solutions, such as siting of new generation in areas of high load, to reduce cost.  These load pockets experience higher prices because they don't have enough local generation and must rely on long-distance transmission lines to supply enough power.  The more power these load pockets demand, the more "congested" transmission lines become.  When generation is sited near load, "congestion" on transmission lines disappears.  But then so do the enormous profits for the power companies that supply that high-priced electricity via "congested" transmission lines.  "Congestion" also keeps the old, decrepit, dirty coal plants these energy supply companies own on standby to provide generation via transmission lines at times of peak load through "reliability must run" contracts.  These generators are paid handsomely to keep their plants available to supply generation just a few days a year.  They essentially get paid to sit idle.  This "congested" situation is a huge financial windfall to coal-lovin' companies like FirstEnergy and AEP, who also score big profits by building more new transmission to supply more of their coal-fired generation to relieve "congestion" in areas of high load.

If another company builds a gas-fired plant in New Jersey near load, then FE & AEP's profits from RMR contracts, as well as both existing and new transmission lines, goes bye-bye.  PJM has a history of favoring AEP & FE and other big energy corporations in their decisions.  Therefore, PJM is fighting with New Jersey to prevent these new plants from being built.  FERC has weighed in on PJM's side of the argument and New Jersey is now being held hostage by all this market manipulation being carried out by the very entities tasked with ensuring that energy markets are fairly run.

Maryland has also experienced a similar situation where they were prohibited from building new generation near load.

Now, New Jersey says they are not going to tolerate it any longer.  A new transmission line project that will bring more coal-fired power into the state, which was approved by the BPU last year, is now being appealed.  New Jersey's BPU is no longer in favor of the project.  If their earlier decision is kicked back to them, they are free to reconsider.  They could reverse their approval of the Susquehanna Roseland transmission line in the hope of forcing PJM and FERC to acquiesce. 

Who will win this game of chicken?

I'm sure our FirstEnergy fans have been enjoying the show while we beat up on AEP here on the blog.  But now it's AEP's turn to be smug while we take FirstEnergy out behind the woodshed.

Some state senators in Ohio have introduced a bill that will repeal the state's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard... in its entirety.

I smell power company conspiracy.  The utilities spend millions of dollars a year trying to influence legislation (because they're people, too!)  So, which company could be responsible for what I'm going to dub "The Caveman-Knuckle Dragger Bill?"  According to the article, three out of four Ohio power companies have received pretty good marks on compliance.  Duke and Dayton Power each received an "A" on Environment Ohio's Clean Energy Report Card, while AEP received a "B."  FirstEnergy received an"F" for failure to meet the standards for the past two years.  Gosh, I wonder who would want to repeal Ohio's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard?

Get ready to laugh...  a "study" from the "American Tradition Institute" cited by bill sponsor Senator Kris Jordan claims:

"The report maintains environmental impact will be negligible because renewable sources are not proven to emit lower quantities of greenhouse gasses."

Ha ha ha ha ha!  Not even a knuckle-dragging caveman would believe that!

Even AEP's duplicitous CEO, Mikey Morris, is smarter than that!  Bend over, FirstEnergy and take your medicine!

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." - William Shakespeare (Hamlet)

PJM Interconnection went into panicked, defensive mode this week in reaction to an editorial in the New Jersey Daily Record by Dave Slaperud, co-founder of Stop The Lines, an organization created to foster public awareness of the Susquehanna-Roseland power line project.

Slaperud gets it exactly right when he says:

"PJM operates the grid in New Jersey and 14 other eastern states, and is supposed to be an independent company charged with maintaining the grid’s reliability. In reality, however, PJM is a conglomerate of transmission line owners and power companies — like PSE&G — that generate electricity, mostly from coal-fired power plants to the west of New Jersey. Naturally, PJM is going to try to promote projects and policies that will generate income for their member corporations."

"The real driving force behind the Susquehanna-Roseland project is “Project Mountaineer,” a scheme hatched by PJM and the coal industry to generate more coal-fired energy from the Midwest and move it into the more lucrative markets in the Northeast. It puts profit for the transmission companies, coal-fired energy producers and the coal industry ahead of the health and safety of residents downwind of these facilities."

Just ask any citizen opposition group involved in exposing the truth behind the four Project Mountaineer projects, Susquehanna Roseland, TrAIL, MAPP and PATH.  It happened, and for many citizen opponents, it's still happening.  None of these projects have been officially abandoned, although three out of the four have been seriously delayed.  They continue to hang like an albatross around the necks of thousands of property owners in the Mid-Atlantic, and thanks to investor-favoring construction incentives granted by FERC, continue to cost the 51 million electric customers in the PJM region millions of dollars of unnecessary cost in their electric bills every year.  Millions of dollars a year are tossed into these outdated projects, from which consumers will never see any benefit.

PJM's ball of yarn is becoming unraveled at a breakneck pace recently, as their conspiracy with their most influential members and the coal industry to build superfluous transmission lines for the sole purpose of turning a profit, is exposed to a public who is now poised to accept the truth.

Slaperud has taken the offensive, and grid-manager PJM Interconnection and Susquehanna Roseland project owner PSE&G get hysterical and immediately try to publicly defend themselves.  When the balance of power between corporations and grassroots groups on these kinds of projects shifts like this, it's all over but the shouting.  Congratulatons, Dave and Stop The Lines!  Keep the pressure on!

"Truth is like the town whore. Everybody knows her, but nonetheless, it's embarrassing to meet her on the street."  -- Wolfgang Borchert, (The Outsider)