Another round of West Virginia Public Service Commission public hearings on the PATH power line is set for tomorrow Thursday in Buckhannon, but there’s bigger news about PATH today out of neighboring Virginia.
Remember how the power companies haven’t refiled an application yet in respose to a Maryland Public Service Commission decision rejecting PATH?
Well, now, the staff of the Virginia State Corporation Commission has filed a motion to dismiss PATH’s application in that state. Citing the Maryland ruling, the staff explain:
There now exists such a level of uncertainty as to the termination point of the PATH project that the staff cannot discharge its duty to analyze the application and to advise the commission on whether the project should be approved and, if approved, where it should be routed.
A copy of the Virginia staff filing is here.
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In their motion, the VA SCC staff make the very convincing argument that citizens, county governments and VA taxpayers about about to spend thousands of dollars on a case for a power line that doesn’t end anywhere.
Those of us in the WV PSC case are in exactly the same situation. All WV taxpayers are about to foot the bill for a PSC case for a power line project that no longer makes any sense.
Twenty six miles of the line have been chopped off and the terminal substation cannot be built because the MD PSC threw out the PATH application.
AEP/Allegheny had thirty days to tell the MD PSC if they were going to reapply in MD. The power companies refused to say if they will do so.
AEP/Allegheny don’t seem to care if they waste the taxpayers money and our citizens’ time. The WV PSC should throw out the PATH case until they can reapply for a project that goes somewhere.
Maybe the PATH companies figure that the way to break up the opposition is to have them spend their resources on a case that might be withdrawn, or thrown out by the WV PSC, then re-file later after the spirit (and the bank accounts) of the opposition are broken.
And either way PATH still gets that 14 percent profit on their costs- win or lose. “Heads we win; tails you lose.”
I suspect that someone in WV will soon file a motion to Dismiss the PATH application there too as well. The commission staff in VA makes a compelling argument. Several respondents in VA have also joined in the motion with one asking for compensation of all legal fees accrued. Maybe PATH is giving up for now. I sure hope so.
[...] January 19, and a decision is expected sometime before May 2010. But remember, commission staff have filed a motion to reject PATH, citing uncertainty about where the line is going to [...]
[...] to a motion already discussed here by their counterparts in Virginia, the WVPSC staff want the PATH application thrown out because of [...]