Transource Continues To Waste My Money As Hearings Continue

There.  I fixed the headline for this article published recently.

There's absolutely no good answer to why Transource feels the need to award a construction contract for a project that hasn't been approved in either state in which it is proposed to be constructed.  No good reason at all.

Maybe it's a PR stunt?  Perhaps Transource wants to tell the PA PUC in its upcoming status report that it has awarded the contract for the project to a "Pennsylvania company" and created jobs in the state?  Otherwise, it makes no sense at all, since Transource cannot put any shovels in the ground until it has its certificates.  But what may be happening is stockpiling of materials and final engineering work for a transmission project that will never be built.  Transource continues to spend buckets of ratepayer cash on their dead project.  Every dime Transource spends will have to be repaid by electric ratepayers assigned cost responsibility for the project by PJM, plus annual return more than 10% until the sunk costs are paid off.  We're talking tens of millions of dollars repaid over perhaps a 5-year period when the project is abandoned.  Actions like this are why everyone's electric bills are so expensive.  We've only recently finished paying off the quarter billion dollar sunk costs of the failed PATH transmission project that was never built.  Gotta keep those dollars coming in for abandoned projects!

So, who got awarded the contract for a project that will never be built?  Harlan Electric, which is supposed to be based in Harrisburg.  But it's also based in Massachusetts and Michigan, and builds projects all over the place.  If you think all the folks working on the project for the company are based in Harrisburg, you may not be correct.  How many workers would be imported to construct the project?  If all workers were local to Harrisburg, there would be no need for hotels with group rates, right?  The workers could simply go home every night.  Instead, Transource wants to hear from local hospitality folks who want to bid on supplying restaurants, catering, venue rental, and hotels with group rates.  Sure sounds like support for a traveling minstrel show of transmission workers.

But it seems there is one company local to Pennsylvania (although not in the project area) that has been awarded a subcontract, according to the Waynesboro Record Herald.

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Harlan Electric representatives are securing subcontractors and will be working with local contractors such as Newville Construction of Newville.

So, Harlan is just a general contractor who will be subbing the actual work out to other contractors?  My, my, that sure sounds cost efficient!  Everybody gets a piece of the ratepayer cash pie!

And where have we heard the name Newville Construction before?

I think it first came up in this video, where a farmer appealed to other farmers in the project area, telling them that the transmission project won't be a burden and that the construction company would leave their property in better condition than they found it.  The farmer, Jim Shuster, didn't mention that he is also the President and Founder of Newville Construction.  Of course, that's not relevant, right?  It must have just been a happy accident that a company he owns, in addition to his farms, ended up with a construction contract, right?  Of course, Jim wasn't paid "a plugged nickel" for his work in the video.  That's what he said in this article.

"Jim spoke from his perspective as the owner of Eleven Oaks Farm on his experiences with utilities and agriculture. Transource has not yet made a selection of the construction companies that will build (the line), nor has it promised work to Newville Construction." 
Shuster said that is the case. He said he was approached by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to appear in the video and testify about his experience with power lines and agriculture. He doesn't understand the opposition to the power line. "I wasn't paid a plugged nickel for that," he said. "I was not promised a dime's worth of work for doing it." 
The impact on the land is minimal, he said, and his company operates under the directive to leave the land in better condition than they found it, something that has earned the company awards and praise from conservation groups. 
Transmission and Agriculture video.mp4
"We're not some Ma and Pa operation with a backhoe," he said. "We're a $30 million-a-year business." 
He is angry with some of those who oppose the power line because, he said, they suggested that his farm is a hoax. About the opposition, he said, "It's one of the most hypocritical things I've ever seen." Unless those opposed to the transmission line have their own power plant, he said, the electricity they use flows through a power line on some other farmer's property. 

"I frankly don't understand what their problem is with it," he said. 

Well, serendipity!  What a fortuitous event!  What are the chances?  Wish I could take those chances to Vegas!  Jim wasn't promised a thing in exchange for making that video.  He only did it as a favor to the union.  And by a rare stroke of good luck, he ended up with a contract to work on the proposed transmission line! 

I wonder if Jimmy Hoffa knows anything about this?  Maybe I can contact him via seance?  The union is surely involved somehow.

“Anytime jobs are created, it’s a win,” said Bernie Kephart, business manager for IBEW Local 126. “Our workers earn family-sustaining wages building the infrastructure that supports our daily lives. We’re proud to build infrastructure that saves customers money and reinforces the grid against power outages in Maryland and Pennsylvania.”
“We support clean, safe and affordable power,” said William C. Tipton Jr., business manager/financial secretary for Maryland IBEW Local 70. “Any conversation around energy comes to a quick halt if we do not have the transmission infrastructure to transfer that power to all who need it.”

Wait a tick... it has not been determined that the IEC will save customers money or reinforce the grid against power outages in Maryland and Pennsylvania.  It also has not been determined that the IEC would provide clean, safe and affordable power.  The only ones who can make this determination are the Pennsylvania PUC and the Maryland PSC.  Neither one of these agencies have made their determination yet.  There's still a long slog ahead, and there's still opposition from state agencies who protect customers, as well as opposition from landowners in the project area.  The jury is still out.

Jobs aren't everything.  Creating jobs just for the sake of having jobs is a waste of money.  My money, your money, electric customer money.

Local companies contracted by Transource also completed much of IEC’s geotechnical survey work, which concluded last year.

Right... and much of that money was wasted when the original eastern route was completely scrapped in favor of building the connection on existing right-of-way.  It's not like using existing infrastructure was an idea that came out of the blue after the work was completed.  Opponents had identified existing resources and asked to use them from the very beginning, before one penny was wasted on geotechnical work.

Waste, waste, waste.

But, hey, now that Transource has awarded all its construction contracts, perhaps we can get a better feel for how much this project is actually going to cost?  With all these contractors, subcontractors, and hotel venues, maybe it would cost more than has been estimated?  There's no cost cap on this project.  The more AEP (Transource) spends, the more it makes!  Perhaps that's why they're still moving full-speed ahead on a project that has stalled in the regulatory process?  Maybe they just want to pad their investment so they can recover it from us with interest?

Stop wasting my money, Transource!