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Frederick County residents opposed to a proposed multi-state power line were happy to learn that beleaguered project faces another hurdle.
The West Virginia Public Service Commission is considering a motion to reject the power line, as the commission in Maryland already has.
The Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline (PATH) would be a 275-mile-long power line extending from a power station in southwestern West Virginia, through Virginia and ending at a proposed substation in southern Frederick County.
PATH is a joint venture of Allegheny Energy and American Electric Power, and both companies maintain that the multi-state power line is necessary to maintain reliable electric service in the region.
Maryland's Public Service Commission denied the project on a technicality, and because of Maryland's denial, Virginia's State Corporation Commission is also considering denial.
Staff for West Virginia's Public Service Commission filed a motion on Oct. 28 to deny the project as well.
West Virginia commission staff cited uncertainty about the power line's endpoint as the main reason for its motion.
Ginny MacColl, a member of the Citizens Against the Kemptown Substation, a group opposed to the 50-acre substation PATH-Allegheny proposes to construct in Mount Airy at the power lines end point, wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette that "[anything] that can stop PATH is welcome news."
MacColl and others object to the proposed power line and substation, citing concerns that the large substation would be located near more than 1,300 homes and would become an eyesore and a potential health hazard.
On Sept. 9, the Maryland Public Service Commission rejected Potomac Edison's application for PATH because it would not be built by an electric company operating within Maryland, as state law requires.
PATH-Allegheny, the legal entity that would construct the line, is a joint venture Allegheny and American Electric Power, based in Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively.
The company on the application was Potomac Edison, an Allegheny subsidiary.
The Public Service Commission ruled that Potomac Edison could not transfer permission to PATH-Allegheny, which is not an electric company.
When Maryland's PSC denied the application, the commission gave the company 30 days to state its intention for the project.
In its motion, West Virginia's commission staff members said it was concerned that Potomac Edison had yet to re-file an application more than 50 days after Maryland's denial.
For more on this story, visit www.gazette.net.
E-mail Christian Brown at chbrown@gazette.net.