Collaboration is a partnership; a union; the act of producing or making something together. Collaboration can take place between two people or many people, strangers or best friends. To collaborate is to commit to the possibility of producing an outcome greater than one that would be developed in a silo.

The company’s goal is full transparency and collaboration with communities and stakeholders...

Have you considered a direct route from the new Woodside substation to Aspen in order to avoid all the opposition?  Yes or no?

Thank you for your interest in the MidAtlantic Resiliency Link.  No route has been confirmed at this time. Any route that has been circulated at this stage is conceptual. We are in the process of developing a detailed routing study to evaluate route options. As part of this process, we will work with First Energy, the other transmission developer assigned a portion of the route, to identify a point of interconnection.  

Once again, we appreciate your engagement, and we look forward to working with you as the project progresses. Thank you.

Best regards
MARL Team members

So, yes or no?

I didn’t order a word salad.

Is a direct route from Woodside to Aspen  even being considered?

Thank you for your email. 

Yes, all options are being evaluated as part of the routing study. In general, the main goal of the routing study is to collaborate closely with local communities, stakeholders, regulators and landowners to identify a route that meets the technical specifications and economic needs of the project while avoiding or minimizing impacts on landowners, local communities and the natural environment.  At the same time, this project was selected by the regional grid operator to meet regional reliability needs and any final route must meet that criteria. Thank you.
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​Dear “Team”,

You should have stopped at “yes,” unless the answer is actually no.  I still don’t know.  Are you looking at any routes that cross the Appalachian Trail further south than the current crossing?


Your latest word salad raises more questions than it answered.

1.  Who are the “stakeholders” if they are not local communities, regulators and landowners?

2.  What are the technical specifications of the project?

3.  What are the economic needs of the project?

4.  What are the “regional reliability needs” criteria of the route?

If your goal is to collaborate closely with local communities, you are not developing a good relationship with the communities if you cannot answer a simple question.  Trust is the most important factor in developing community relationships and it is severely lacking right now.  Keeping communities in the dark while you develop a route is not collaboration.  If you cannot provide clear and accurate information, impacted communities will get their information elsewhere, from people they can trust.

The “team” stuff is also off-putting to impacted communities.  Can’t you be a real, accountable person, instead of hiding behind a vague moniker like “team”?

It would also require the SCC to evaluate current rate structures to see if transmission project costs linked to data centers are being fairly applied or are being spread too widely among the broader customer base.
“One of the benefits of data centers is how much money it brings to a locality,” Subramanyam said. “And we like that, but I also want to make sure that the infrastructure needed to power those data centers, that those costs are reasonable to ratepayers and are not essentially defeating that purpose of the data centers, which is to be an economic boon for a locality.”

Imported electricity from surrounding PJM states makes up over half of the electricity demand in Maryland in 2031 and contributes to over 95% of the remaining emissions in the power sector. In this pathway, although Maryland achieves its renewable and clean energy targets for in-state generation, the rapid expansion of solar and wind from current levels in this scenario is not sufficient to meet the growth in electricity demand from end-use sectors and to make up for reductions in natural gas generation. This means that Maryland must also increase imports from other states.”

“The petition asks the EPA to issue a finding that 36 electric generating units located in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia are in violation of the prohibition of 42 U.S.C. § 7410(a)(2)(D)(i), commonly referred to as the “good neighbor provision.” The petition alleges that nitrogen oxides emitted by these units significantly contribute to Maryland’s nonattainment, or interfere with its maintenance of certain National Ambient Air Quality Standards (“NAAQS”)”.

doe_nietc_comments.pdf
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Who does our government work for? If not the citizens who fund and enable it, then it is not part of a functioning democracy. DOE has been working steadily over the past several years to gaslight stakeholders to believe that new transmission and generation is the ONLY solution to a cleaner energy future. There are many other tools in the toolbox that can aid the transition that do not depend on commandeering hundreds of thousands of square miles of private property. DOE’s role is to examine all the tools available and determine which scenario, or combination of scenarios, best serves all citizens. DOE should be purposefully engaging all stakeholders in consultation and making all its actions public, instead of carrying on programs like NIETC designation in secret, lest the hoi polloi find out about it before they are supposed to and become a fly in the ointment. 

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The Routing Team developed specific routing criteria in identifying, evaluating, and selecting routes, attempting to minimize:

Route length, circuity, cost, and special design requirements.

The removal or substantial interference with the use of existing residences.

The removal of existing barns, garages, commercial buildings, and other nonresidential structures. 

Substantial interference with the use and operation of existing schools, existing and recognized places of worship, existing cemeteries, and existing facilities used for cultural and historical, and recreational purposes.

Substantial interference with economic activities.

Crossing of designated public resource lands such as national and state forests and parks, large camps and other recreation lands, designated battlefields or other designated historic resources and sites, and wildlife management areas.

Crossing large lakes and large wetland complexes, critical habitat, and other scarce, distinct natural resources.
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Substantial visual impact on residential areas and public resources.

Avoid double-circuiting or crossing existing 765 kV lines.

Do not parallel existing 765 kV lines for more than 1 mile in any particular location.

Minimize the crossing of 345 kV and 500 kV transmission lines.

Minimize paralleling corridors with more than one existing 345 kV or 500 kV circuit.
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Maintain 200 feet of centerline-to-centerline separation when paralleling existing 345 kV, 500 kV, and 765 kV transmission lines.

Maintain 150 feet of centerline-to-centerline separation when paralleling 138 kV or lower voltage transmission lines.

Minimize angles greater than 65 degrees and sloping soils more than 30 degrees (20 degrees at angle points).

Do not triple-circuit lines of 345 kV or greater voltage. 

In these cases, the existing transmission corridor already runs through theses areas, and in order to keep the height of the structures lower, the Applicant would work with the holders of these easements to modify them in order to acquire approximately 105 feet of additional ROW. 

(i) recovery of all pre-commercial costs not capitalized and authorization to establish a regulatory asset that will include all such expenses that are incurred prior to the time costs first flow through to customers, including authorization to accrue carrying charges and amortize the regulatory asset over five years for cost recovery purposes (“Regulatory Asset Incentive”); (ii) use of a hypothetical capital structure of 60% equity and 40% debt until NEET MidAtlantic Indiana’s first project achieved commercial operations (“Hypothetical Capital Structure Incentive”); and (iii) use of a 50-basis point return on equity (“ROE”) adder for Regional Transmission Organization Participation (“RTO Participation Adder”). 

(i) recovery of 100 percent of prudently-incurred transmission-related costs of the Project if it is abandoned or canceled for reasons beyond the control of NEET MidAtlantic Indiana (“Abandoned Plant Incentive”); (ii) authorization to include 100 percent of prudently incurred Construction Work in Progress (“CWIP”) in rate base for the Project (“CWIP Incentive”); and (iii) authorization to assign the requested Abandoned Plant and CWIP Incentives, if approved, to any newly-formed PJM affiliate of NEET MidAtlantic Indiana that is involved in the development and construction of the MidAtlantic Resiliency Link Project.​

In addition, the Project requires construction of approximately 129-line miles of 500 kV transmission lines, 24 miles of which is located in a greenfield corridor that crosses through Loudoun County, Virginia, which is one of the wealthiest counties in America. Project opposition from residents in this County is foreseeable and may result in permitting delays, undergrounding requirements that may increase the costs associated with the Project, and/or litigation over the Project’s scope and construction. The Project also spans across four different states—West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania—which will require NEET MidAtlantic Indiana to obtain necessary permits and approvals from a large number of different state and local regulatory bodies and will subject the Project to numerous different environmental and other regulatory standards and requirements. Finally, the Project is directly reliant on the construction of a 36-mile increment of 500 kV transmission lines being developed by First Energy as the incumbent transmission owner. Delays or cancellation associated with First Energy’s construction of its 36-mile increment may impact NEET MidAtlantic Indiana’s ability to obtain permits, finalize construction, and place into service the MidAtlantic Resiliency Link Project in a timely fashion. 


Additionally, the Commission has also recognized that large, new interstate projects can face substantial risks and challenges not presented by more ordinary transmission investments. Like other large interstate projects, the MidAtlantic Resiliency Link Project will span across four different states and many more localities, each with its own regulatory permitting requirements. The Project also traverses across regions of Virginia, such as Loudon County, that have traditionally been litigious when it comes to new, significant transmission build, and similar opposition is expected here. This opposition could result in Project delays or the inability to obtain certain required permits, such as a certificate of public convenience and necessity, ultimately resulting in cancellation of the Project for reasons outside of NEET MidAtlantic Indiana’s reasonable control.