StopPATH WV

Attorneys for a woman killed by a falling Allegheny Power distribution line say that improper procedure taught to linemen by the company was the cause of the failure of a line that killed a Pennsylvania woman.  Now the attorney has asked the Pennsylvania Utilities Commission to open an investigation with an eye toward correcting other improperly spliced lines before they also fail and possibly kill someone else.  Read an article with a link to the letter sent to the PUC here. 

If you're a more visual person, here's a news video story, but there's no link to the letter.

Bet you don't walk around outside anymore without looking over your head for former Allegheny Power lines, now the legal responsibility of FirstEnergy.  Of course, FirstEnergy didn't have any comment.  Todd was probably doing some primal screaming underneath his desk and couldn't come to the phone.

According to Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who thinks FirstEnergy's re-start of their creaky Davis-Besse nuke isn't all it's cracked up to be:

“We should be looking at this.  The corporations that run nuclear power plants are fundamentally no different than the corporations that drove our economy off a cliff.  They will cut corners to maintain or increase profits in the absence of sufficient incentives to act differently.  They must be sufficiently and carefully regulated.  The consequences of failing to do so are simply unthinkable. I hope we will reflect on the NRC’s position here and help to achieve a culture of independence, objectivity, public interest over corporate interest and will have complete dedication to safety.”

Read the whole statement available at the link and cross your fingers that FirstEnergy doesn't cause a nuclear disaster, because that's about all you can do right now.

Wondering why your AEP subsidiary electric bills keep going up?  Wonder no more!  This article regarding a  chat Morningstar had with AEP's Little Drummer Boy and other "senior management" at a recent financial conference reveals, again, what comes out of the other side of AEP's corporate mouth.  It's all about the money, boys!

New EPA rules won't be a problem, according to what AEP management told Morningstar.  In fact, "AEP already has said it could close up to 6 GW of its coal plants, but its highest-margin plants are well-positioned to capture profits for shareholders that it previously had to return to ratepayers."

Compare this to what The Little Drummer Boy said when he testified before Congress on October 13, 2011 (EPA whining starts on Page 8, past the Mountaineer CCS and Turk Plant doublespeak).  LDB is very concerned about how rising electric rates caused by new EPA rules will affect AEP's poor customers!  Well, cry me a river, Nick.

Looks like the Little Drummer Boy is getting off to a bang-up start in the doublespeak category.  Maybe Mikey should give him lessons in perfecting technique while he's breathing down his neck in the future.  Or maybe it was really LDB's evil twin testifying before Congress or talking to Morningstar?  Could one person really contradict themselves that much and still expect to be taken seriously?

Bill also posted this thoughts about a New York Times article that was published yesterday.  This article is the first time that information about FERC's power grab from the states has been made available to the general public.  As Bill and the article point out, "...the new strategy was spearheaded by NextEra Energy, North America's largest wind and solar power developer. NextEra Executive Vice President Joseph Kelliher, a former FERC chairman, is leading the campaign for the new strategy."

When policy change which results from FERC conspiracy with industry lobbyists is hidden from other "stakeholders" and only revealed publicly two days before the deadline to submit comments, one wonders what they're trying to hide.

According to comments filed by NARUC (National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners), they weren't notified of the proposal until just before a meeting in mid-August.

"Given that our members remain the primary transmission siting authorities, we are disappointed that we were not privy to the details or even informal conversations about this proposal prior to the above-referenced meeting, especially since the proposal has been under discussion since June and was vetted with industry stakeholders long before it was even revealed to us."

Apparently FERC and the industry have been discussing the best way to ram this through since June, but it was only recently that FERC began a series of conference calls with other "stakeholders" such as states and environmental groups.  And, of course, they NEVER consulted the most important "stakeholder" of all -- you!  As an electric consumer, property owner and citizen, YOU will be the ones who pay for new transmission, sacrifice your property and well-being to new transmission line rights-of-way, and must live with the consequences of FERC and industry's heavy-handed determination of where renewable energy will develop.  This will ensure that development of renewables will only occur at utility scale and be concentrated in a handful of Midwestern States.  Instead of each individual state getting a piece of the economic/jobs boom expected to result from renewable resources and developing their own local renewables to meet their own in-state goals, they will be forced to buy high-priced renewables from other states.  Still other states will be forced to live with new transmission lines crossing their state which are intended to deliver renewables to their neighboring states, without receiving ANY benefit from the transmission line project.  This should concern another group of "stakeholders" who were not consulted:  your local and state elected officials.  Give them a call and make sure they know!

The root of this problem is a couple of greedy energy corporations and a few Midwestern states who are trying to corner the renewable energy markets of the entire U.S. before other, perhaps more viable, resources have a chance to fully develop.  Earlier this year, FERC granted incentives to a company to develop an offshore backbone intended to support development of wind farms along the Atlantic coast.  These offshore wind farms are ideally sited to provide renewables to the huge load centers along the coast, with a minimum of new transmission capacity required.  Earlier reports said that no new land based transmission will be required.  This would make offshore wind a cheaper resource for the East Coast.

Take a look at these maps from a recent PJM planning document.  They show two different scenarios regarding integration of different amounts of offshore wind into the transmission system.  The first slide shows improvements they think will be needed if they base planning on 20GW of offshore wind.  Those fat, orange lines on the coast are new 500kV transmission lines.  For some inexplicable reason, it looks like they intend to bring back the MAPP project to transport wind power from the coast to the Washington, DC area.  MAPP's original purpose was to transport power produced in Virginia and Maryland to New Jersey.  PJM is desperately trying to find a "need" for MAPP.  Since MAPP was not designed to distribute offshore wind power, it's probably not the most efficient or cost-effective way to do so.  PJM is just throwing Pepco a bone here.  If we're going to invest $5B in an offshore backbone, PJM needs to scrap all old projects and go back to the drawing board and create the most efficient and cost effective method of injecting this new generation into the existing grid.  Look at the map.  Does that even make sense?  Maryland and Delaware don't need any of that transmission.  The second slide shows what happens when the amount of integrated offshore wind drops to 4GW.  All the new transmission lines are in the western PJM region, with no new transmission lines needed on the coast.  This is because all the wind will be coming from the west, instead of the east.  This is what FERC and their industry pets want to see happen.  Most of those 765kV lines aren't even in PJM territory (indicated by the gray shaded areas).  So, who do you suppose will be able to lobby and influence PJM to embrace their particular version of where PJM renewables will come from?  Remember, it's not about planning or regulation or what's good for the grid, it's about who has the most influential lobbyists.

Now that FERC's scheme with the industry has been publicly exposed, the battle lines are being drawn.  On the DOE's website dedicated to this proposal, which was just recently constructed, you can read comments from industry (for the proposal) and from state regulators (against the proposal).  In addition, there are some comments from a couple of environmental groups who are inexplicably in favor of the proposal.  In their quest for renewable power at any cost, they are being duped into going along with a plan that hurts consumers and citizens and subverts states' rights.

Since you weren't given a chance to express your views, the states and organizations like NARUC are fighting for your interests.

"Siting is inherently a local issue that impacts local environments, local landowners, local businesses and local communities. The best decisions come after complete due process where every interested neighbor, farmer and businessperson has an opportunity to be heard. People who know the landscape must be able to participate in the transmission siting processes to minimize negative environmental and economic impacts. Federal siting authority makes local participation less accessible, more expensive, and therefore less likely. State siting processes that enable local engagement may take time (although often less time than the combined pre-filing and filing processes at FERC), but they do not conflict with regional or national interests. On the contrary, local processes are essential to accomplish those interests, and the federal government should not create a short cut around local engagement."

NARUC wants to know what the "problem" is:

"...we would appreciate a specific articulation of the problem the delegation intends to solve and how the delegation will solve the problem identified."

This "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" theme is prevalent in all the comments from state regulators as well.  The same question was repeatedly asked of Chairman Wellinghoff during one of those "stakeholder" calls this week.  He never answered it.  I guess nothing's broke afterall.

This is setting up to be an epic battle involving states, Congress and the courts, and it's root cause is industry lobbying influence on an agency that is supposed to regulate them.  FERC is on the road to disaster and is going to end up strangling "the precious" that it's sticking its neck out to protect -- new transmission.  NARUC sums it up well:

"To the extent that this proposal is motivated by a desire to reduce barriers to transmission, it fails. It relies on a tortured reading of the statute that would cause uncertainty, litigation, damage to State and federal relations, and delays in transmission development."

The Coalition for Reliable Power and Energy Efficient West Virginia hosted a public forum, Real Solutions to Rising Electric Rates, in Martinsburg last night. 

The forum was well attended and the audience got all fired up when they heard that FirstEnergy/Potomac Edison, as required by stipulations in their merger settlement, is proposing an ineffective Energy Efficiency Program in West Virginia that is much weaker than programs FirstEnergy is required to comply with in neighboring states.  The program will be paid for by residential consumers, including its marketing and administrative costs and reimbursement for resulting lower sales revenue to the company.  Benefits offered to consumers via the program are extremely limited.  Their program offers assistance to commercial/industrial customers with upgrading lighting (although this class of customers will not contribute to the cost of the program in their rates).  It also offers free CFL bulbs and faucet aerators for low-income residential customers.  That's it -- there's nothing in it for the rest of the residential customers who will finance this program through new rate increases.  In fact, the audience was so outraged and motivated, several checked back in with me on the way out to make sure we had their e-mail address for future calls to action.  Even if you missed the meeting, we're still asking you to take action detailed below.

Now that I've given you the punch line first, here's the background that we covered last night.  We explained how a regulated utility systems works and the mission and procedures of the PSC in a rate case.  Next we explained how the FirstEnergy subsidiaries operate in the state -- how electricity gets to your house and where it comes from.  Cathy Kunkel of EEWV gave a very informative talk explaining the ratemaking process, the different types of rate cases, why rates have increased over 30% in the past couple of years (the cost of coal!), and informed us that Potomac Edison & Mon Power will be filing for another rate increase next month.  Mike Harman of EEWV talked with the audience about energy efficiency measures and how they can dramatically reduce electric bills.  If FirstEnergy had a more effective program that helped more consumers with energy efficiency measures, even those who did not participate would benefit through lower bills.  As long as our consumption of electricity continues to rise, we are subject to higher costs to purchase peak power and the cost to build additional generation plants and transmission lines.  If we can reduce our use overall, we can avoid higher prices because the cheapest power plant and transmission lines are the ones that FirstEnergy doesn't have to build.  Mike also introduced the concept of demand response, where consumers of large amounts of power agree to lower their usage at times of peak demand in exchange for payments from the power company.  He shared many success stories of West Virginia businesses and school systems who have scored big financial benefits from energy efficiency and demand response programs.  He compared FirstEnergy's program goals in West Virginia with those FirstEnergy is required to comply with in neighboring states, which shocked the audience about what FirstEnergy is trying to get away in this state.

Cathy wrapped things up with a call to action for all Potomac Edison and Mon Power customers:

• Read more about this issue here.
• Send a letter to the Public Service Commission asking them to order FirstEnergy to bring their proposed program in line with standards and benefits offered in other states.

Get involved with EEWV and the Coalition for Reliable Power -- visit their websites and sign up!

Additional meetings are being planned around the state this fall.  The next meeting will be in Lewisburg, at City Hall, on August 31 at 7:00 p.m.  Check out the complete meeting schedule here.  If you'd like to attend another meeting offered in the Eastern Panhandle, let EEWV and the Coalition know!

Here's a link to The Journal's article about the forum.  The meeting was also covered by WEPM radio.

Here's your laugh of the day, Pam!

This bizarre translation of a February 5 Journal Article just turned up.  I have no idea what language this got translated into that resulted in a re-translation back to English that went so horribly wrong, but it gives us some new, descriptive words to have fun with :-)

For instance:

AEP's John Amos plant is described as, "a coal-fired boar іn St. Albans."

And speaking of AEP, their new name is, "American Thrilling Potential."

PJM is, "a informal classification concerned wіth credentials stirring grids."

You may now refer to me as, "anti-PATH romantic Keryn Newman."

But it wouldn't be nice to refer to Chuck Penn of Dominion as, "retard Penn wіth Province."

Maybe that's because he described MSD's problem as, "thеrе′s a complicated bucket οn thе existent line,"

And about PATH, "PATH іѕ a due high-voltage appetite delivery line thаt, іf authorized аnԁ completed, wουƖԁ rυn approximately 275 miles frοm a coal-fired boar іn St. Albans tο Kemptown, Md., channel раrtѕ οf West Virginia – including Jefferson County – аѕ good аѕ Virginia аnԁ Maryland.  Thе plan іѕ a corner try between Allegheny Energy аnԁ American Thrilling Potential. PATH hаѕ a projected іn-service date οf Jun 1, 2015, аnԁ a projected cost οf $2.1 billion, according tο PJM Interconnection, whісh іѕ a informal classification concerned wіth credentials stirring grids."

What's your favorite line?

This should be required reading for greedy corporations who think they're going to come here and buy our island for $24 worth of beads and trinkets.  Too bad PATH didn't read it first.

What's that hideous cacophony?  It's the sound of PJM's spokeswoman sawing away like mad on her out-of-tune violin.  "It's a matter of caring," DuPont-Kidd said. "It's a responsibility of ours."

Okay, stop laughing, PJM really, really cares for you!!!  Really, they do, you believe them, right?

A couple of reporters from The Shepherdstown Chronicle got to the rotten, black, shriveled heart of the PATH project while researching a story this week.  Good job, ladies!  They got the story that all the other big media outlets missed.

"She said after analyzing the transmission needs of the area, the company will undergo what is called the 'stakeholder process.'  DuPont-Kidd said this means talking with those who have a say in if the line should be built. She said by the fall, based on the analysis and stakeholder results, PJM will make a presentation to its board."

We have until fall before PATH makes its encore with PJM's newly manufactured "need" projections.

And who are these "stakeholders" supposed to be?  Seems like the "stakeholders" should properly be the regulatory commissions of the three states involved, since they are the only ones at this point who actually have the final authority.  And what is PATH doing?  They're burning their bridges with arrogant filings and by trying to skip out without providing the results of studies ordered by the Virginia State Corporation Commission.

Why are they guarding the results of these tests so vociferously?  Perhaps those results will make their planned rebirth this fall as a B-movie zombie impossible.

It's been a wild ride!  Here are some of the newslinks from yesterday.  If there are some I have missed that are different from those posted (we don't need 1,000 copies of the same AP story), please let me know.

Also, tomorrow morning, March 2, Patience and I will be on WEPM radio at 9:30 a.m.  You can listen live here.

The Journal (long version of AP story)  Look for more in the Journal tomorrow -- our regular reporter wasn't working yesterday.

The Hur Herald - once again, this independent, online news source comes out with the best coverage.

WV Metro News - again, not quite accurate (how do they DO this when they have a recording of what I said?)  Lest any middle-aged, nerdy-looking, white guys get a false sense of security after reading that last sentence... I'm not waiting for you to attempt a comeback.  Game. On. Now.

Second Journal article - Don't even get me started on some of these politicians!  We all know which ones were our allies during the war.

Pittsburgh Business Times - this blog is pretty funny!  Be sure to click through on the link to last year's post.  Shareholders were expecting a 50-cent-per-share price bump associated with the project.  Greed, not need.

Clarke Daily News - It's a very good day!

Business Week - Short AP version

WAMU/NPR Radio - This story is an absolute mess.  How the reporter managed to get this screwed up in a brief, 5 minute interview I'll never know.... but he seemed to pick the right sound bite :-)  However... all this wasted money was recovered from ratepayers to finance the project, money out of the pockets of landowners defending themselves, and money out of the pockets of taxpayers while the three state commissions were forced to pour more time & money down the PATH rathole for nearly 2 years while these cases dragged on.

NBC25 - CAKES uncorks the champagne!

TV3Winchester - "Worth the effort"

NJ Spotlight - Susquehanna-Roseland victims take heart because of our victory.

Loudoun Times Mirror - the last sentence is a scream!

Leesburg Today - Virginia opponents ecstatic!

Renew Grid - Someone just sent me this one with the note "This is an interesting take on it."  I'd give you credit... but the only ID it gave me was your IP number.
The Weston Democrat - Good article, but the last part claims that ratepayers "would have been assessed..."  We're already paying for it and will continue to do so indefinitely under PATH's "suspension" scheme!  If we let them.