Yesterday, the Jefferson County Commission passed a Resolution that nobody seemed to understand, maybe not even the Commissioners themselves.
| jefferson_first_resolution.pdf |
I made public comment at the Commission meeting yesterday morning, completely oblivious to the Jefferson County First Resolution that was added to the packet after it was originally posted on Monday. Unfortunately, nobody involved in the power line battle saw it ahead of time and I left the meeting for other adventures before it was discussed. My bad. It sure would have been nice if the Commissioners had been more upfront about their Resolution that will impact hundreds of county residents. Even when asked before the meeting what the mysteriously-named Resolution was about, a Commissioner professed ignorance.
I addressed the Commissioners yesterday morning before the meeting specifically because I had heard a rumor being spread by state legislators that Jefferson County had no power over the transmission lines and that there was federal authority to approve it if West Virginia rejected it. It seems this untrue rumor came from Del. Linville, who misspoke about the transmission lines at the February 20 meeting.
Jefferson County has enormous power over the fate of the transmission lines, although it has no direct permitting authority. Jefferson County's power comes from its ability to influence the future decision about the power lines from the West Virginia Public Service Commission. The County Commission speaks with a louder voice and can advocate for the county and its people as a whole. We need and appreciate their support!
THERE IS NO FEDERAL BACKSTOP ON PERMITTING FOR THESE LINES! I told the Commission that yesterday. No wonder I got such odd looks. I do understand the prohibition of having direct dialogue with a public commenter so I can't fault them for not saying anything. However, you'd think that if they were doing something great for the citizens of the County who will be personally impacted by the transmission lines, they would have wanted to spread the word so we could be there to cheer them on. It's sad that we can't have that relationship. We're on the same page, but we're not reading from the same book. I have been working in both the state and federal transmission planning and permitting realm for nearly two decades now. I have a wealth of experience and knowledge that I can share with you until your eyes roll back in your head and your brain shuts down. It is incredibly complicated with a lot of moving parts that need to be fully understood before decisions are made.
Transmission siting and permitting is completely under state jurisdiction, except in the event that a line is sited in a designated National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC). A NIETC was proposed for Jefferson County (and other parts of the tri-state area) last year, however, that potential corridor was ABANDONED by the DOE in December 2024. There is currently NO NIETC, and therefore no federal authority over the two proposed transmission lines in Jefferson County. There is no other federal mechanism to usurp the jurisdiction of the West Virginia Public Service Commission. The two transmission lines will live or die by the decision of the West Virginia Public Service Commission, which is a process where Jefferson County (and its citizens) can participate to influence the outcome.
This morning, we woke up to this.
I addressed the Commissioners yesterday morning before the meeting specifically because I had heard a rumor being spread by state legislators that Jefferson County had no power over the transmission lines and that there was federal authority to approve it if West Virginia rejected it. It seems this untrue rumor came from Del. Linville, who misspoke about the transmission lines at the February 20 meeting.
Jefferson County has enormous power over the fate of the transmission lines, although it has no direct permitting authority. Jefferson County's power comes from its ability to influence the future decision about the power lines from the West Virginia Public Service Commission. The County Commission speaks with a louder voice and can advocate for the county and its people as a whole. We need and appreciate their support!
THERE IS NO FEDERAL BACKSTOP ON PERMITTING FOR THESE LINES! I told the Commission that yesterday. No wonder I got such odd looks. I do understand the prohibition of having direct dialogue with a public commenter so I can't fault them for not saying anything. However, you'd think that if they were doing something great for the citizens of the County who will be personally impacted by the transmission lines, they would have wanted to spread the word so we could be there to cheer them on. It's sad that we can't have that relationship. We're on the same page, but we're not reading from the same book. I have been working in both the state and federal transmission planning and permitting realm for nearly two decades now. I have a wealth of experience and knowledge that I can share with you until your eyes roll back in your head and your brain shuts down. It is incredibly complicated with a lot of moving parts that need to be fully understood before decisions are made.
Transmission siting and permitting is completely under state jurisdiction, except in the event that a line is sited in a designated National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC). A NIETC was proposed for Jefferson County (and other parts of the tri-state area) last year, however, that potential corridor was ABANDONED by the DOE in December 2024. There is currently NO NIETC, and therefore no federal authority over the two proposed transmission lines in Jefferson County. There is no other federal mechanism to usurp the jurisdiction of the West Virginia Public Service Commission. The two transmission lines will live or die by the decision of the West Virginia Public Service Commission, which is a process where Jefferson County (and its citizens) can participate to influence the outcome.
This morning, we woke up to this.
The County Commission discussed their Resolution and unanimously supported its passage. Unfortunately, the story doesn't say where the Resolution was sent. It's not a bad Resolution, until it gets to the end where Jefferson County appears to give up and beg for a transmission owner lobbyist to simply whisper the magic words... "this transmission line will attract data centers to Jefferson County", even though that's not true at all.
How DO data centers get power? Data centers use enormous amounts of power, equalling the power load of small cities in some instances. When a county has attracted a data center customer (more on that later), the customer will request power service from the local distribution utility. In our case, it's Potomac Edison. The customer estimates how much power it will need, often beginning with a baseline amount that ramps up over time as the data center is built out. Potomac Edison considers this request and determines if it can serve the load from its local system. If not, it gets added to Potomac Edison's future load forecast that is subsequently relayed to PJM Interconnection for planning purposes. If the local utility cannot meet load requests, then it asks PJM to add it to its planning. Remember, PJM's only tool is transmission. It cannot order new generation, which is perhaps the better solution to large new load requests. PJM uses these local load forecasts to create a regional load forecast. Once PJM has its regional load forecast, it plugs that into its transmission planning and determines how much new transmission might be needed to meet the load requests (because it can't order new generation). PJM opens a competitive transmission window to solve load (think RFP) and selects the transmission projects that it believes will meet the load.
This is a multi-year, multi-tiered process. The two transmission lines through Jefferson County are the product of load forecasts and planning that occurred in 2022 and 2024. The load that was forecast for PJM in those years is slated to occur in Loudoun and Prince William Counties, Virginia. It's not for load requests from Jefferson County. The power that these transmission lines will export is already spoken for by load requests that were made in earlier years by new data centers locating in Virginia. Just because a new line will travel through Jefferson County doesn't mean it will serve new growth here.
Attracting data centers to your locality is about much more than welcoming new transmission extension cords designed to serve data centers in other states. It's about offering the data center companies incentives to locate here and providing the infrastructure they may need. Just as crucial as a local supply of electricity, data centers need a fiber connection. When Frederick County, Maryland, wanted to attract new data centers to a local campus, they arranged for a fiber backbone connected to Virginia's data center alley. Jefferson County doesn't have this kind of infrastructure. Data centers also need a vast supply of water for cooling. If Jefferson County is going to allow a California company to come in here and pump and sell our water supply to outsiders, we won't have enough left for data centers. Frederick County located its data center campus at the site of a former aluminum smelter. Aluminum smelters use a lot of power (but nothing approaching data center proportions) so the site already had a 230kV transmission connection and substation. Frederick County is using the existing lines to power its campus, not building new ones. Frederick County maintains that its data center campus is not the reason for new transmission lines. However, it is curious that both the new transmission lines proposed through Jefferson County land at substations in Frederick County before routing south along the river to make connections in Virginia's data center alley.
If Jefferson County wants to have data centers here, it needs to create a realistic plan, not just throw wide the doors for transmission extension cords for data centers in other states and hope that data centers develop through osmosis.
However, Jefferson County should also spend a great deal of time investigating how data centers have changed other communities that initially welcomed them for economic development purposes. People are migrating here to live precisely because Jefferson County doesn't have data centers. Citizens in Virginia hate living with them and can't wait to get out of the hellscape they have created under the guise of economic development. Jefferson County is the peaceful, rural environment that has disappeared from Northern Virginia. A good and affordable place to buy a home and raise a family. Jefferson County needs to be very careful and deliberate with planning for new data centers so it doesn't turn itself into Loudoun County West. Attracting data centers is something the West Virginia legislature should be studying as well. State incentives are needed to attract data centers, not just local economic development efforts.
Does Jefferson County currently have any interest from companies wanting to locate new data centers here? Have those companies developed their plans enough to make a request for service from Potomac Edison? Or is this Resolution simply a blind expression of hope? If so, it is unlikely to get to the right place.
How DO data centers get power? Data centers use enormous amounts of power, equalling the power load of small cities in some instances. When a county has attracted a data center customer (more on that later), the customer will request power service from the local distribution utility. In our case, it's Potomac Edison. The customer estimates how much power it will need, often beginning with a baseline amount that ramps up over time as the data center is built out. Potomac Edison considers this request and determines if it can serve the load from its local system. If not, it gets added to Potomac Edison's future load forecast that is subsequently relayed to PJM Interconnection for planning purposes. If the local utility cannot meet load requests, then it asks PJM to add it to its planning. Remember, PJM's only tool is transmission. It cannot order new generation, which is perhaps the better solution to large new load requests. PJM uses these local load forecasts to create a regional load forecast. Once PJM has its regional load forecast, it plugs that into its transmission planning and determines how much new transmission might be needed to meet the load requests (because it can't order new generation). PJM opens a competitive transmission window to solve load (think RFP) and selects the transmission projects that it believes will meet the load.
This is a multi-year, multi-tiered process. The two transmission lines through Jefferson County are the product of load forecasts and planning that occurred in 2022 and 2024. The load that was forecast for PJM in those years is slated to occur in Loudoun and Prince William Counties, Virginia. It's not for load requests from Jefferson County. The power that these transmission lines will export is already spoken for by load requests that were made in earlier years by new data centers locating in Virginia. Just because a new line will travel through Jefferson County doesn't mean it will serve new growth here.
Attracting data centers to your locality is about much more than welcoming new transmission extension cords designed to serve data centers in other states. It's about offering the data center companies incentives to locate here and providing the infrastructure they may need. Just as crucial as a local supply of electricity, data centers need a fiber connection. When Frederick County, Maryland, wanted to attract new data centers to a local campus, they arranged for a fiber backbone connected to Virginia's data center alley. Jefferson County doesn't have this kind of infrastructure. Data centers also need a vast supply of water for cooling. If Jefferson County is going to allow a California company to come in here and pump and sell our water supply to outsiders, we won't have enough left for data centers. Frederick County located its data center campus at the site of a former aluminum smelter. Aluminum smelters use a lot of power (but nothing approaching data center proportions) so the site already had a 230kV transmission connection and substation. Frederick County is using the existing lines to power its campus, not building new ones. Frederick County maintains that its data center campus is not the reason for new transmission lines. However, it is curious that both the new transmission lines proposed through Jefferson County land at substations in Frederick County before routing south along the river to make connections in Virginia's data center alley.
If Jefferson County wants to have data centers here, it needs to create a realistic plan, not just throw wide the doors for transmission extension cords for data centers in other states and hope that data centers develop through osmosis.
However, Jefferson County should also spend a great deal of time investigating how data centers have changed other communities that initially welcomed them for economic development purposes. People are migrating here to live precisely because Jefferson County doesn't have data centers. Citizens in Virginia hate living with them and can't wait to get out of the hellscape they have created under the guise of economic development. Jefferson County is the peaceful, rural environment that has disappeared from Northern Virginia. A good and affordable place to buy a home and raise a family. Jefferson County needs to be very careful and deliberate with planning for new data centers so it doesn't turn itself into Loudoun County West. Attracting data centers is something the West Virginia legislature should be studying as well. State incentives are needed to attract data centers, not just local economic development efforts.
Does Jefferson County currently have any interest from companies wanting to locate new data centers here? Have those companies developed their plans enough to make a request for service from Potomac Edison? Or is this Resolution simply a blind expression of hope? If so, it is unlikely to get to the right place.
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