To: MVCAC members, friends, participants, and
others...........
The next meeting of the MVCAC will be at 7 pm on Monday, October
24th at the home of Larry and Martha Schwab, 3333 Collins Ferry Road,
Morgantown. This will be a special meeting, for the purpose of discussing
the Longview Announcement below and to encourage and support letter writing in
response to this Announcement.
Please bring your own paper, pen and envelope to the meeting! This
meeting will be chaired by Paula Hunt, who can be contacted at:
The Announcement appeared in the Dominion Post on Thursday, October
13th, and is scheduled to reappear this Thursday, October 20th, as a Class II
classified advertisement. According to this Announcement only 15
days is provided to respond; so, urgent action is recommended and
requested.
Areas of concern are whether these high voltage transmission
lines will pass near or over metallic objects as conveyor belt systems,
train tracks, trucking roads, or near homes or farm animals. There is
concern as to whether this is a private project, given the PILOT tax break, to
involvement of the County Commission as the owner of last resort, and possible
federal and state participation in specific aspects as, for example, the water
supply system in Pennsylvania.
Since this proposed new plant will share transmission lines with
the Ft. Martin and other existing plants, does Longview not need to demonstrate
that they have the plant capacity, equipment, and know how to protect the
transmission grid system from electrical interactions that could result in
outages, brownouts, line failures, or switching control problems.
Otherwise this plant will be a burden on the electricity customers of West
Virginia.
Remaining issues with the "siting certificate" include the noise
that the plant will generate, the visibility problem due to the plant being seen
from any high location in the County (viewshed problem) and the large vapor
plumes generated by the 20 forced draft cooling fans. It remains to be
demonstrated whether this proposed Longview plant is financially viable; and,
whether there remains a significant demand for the electricity outside of West
Virginia.
An examination of this Announcement may demonstrate that
significant information is not given to the public, that complete information is
necessary and more time needed so that each of us as affected citizens can have
a sufficiently good understanding as to provide reasonably accurate and complete
responses to the PSC. It would then be reasonable to have a
public information meeting in Morgantown, and a public hearing to gather
appropriate input for the PSC.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
010358 October
13, 20
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
OF
WEST VIRGINIA
CHARLESTON
Entered by the PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
OF WEST VIRGINIA in the City of Charleston on the 7th day of October
2005.
CASE NO. 05-1467-E-CN
LONGVIEW POWER, LLC
Application of Longview
Power, LLC, for a Certificate
of Public Convenience and Necessity Authorizing
the
Construction and Installation of a 500 KV electric transmission
line
and to Satisfy Conditional Siting Certificate for Exempt
Wholesale Generating
Facility in Monongalia County, West Virginia
NOTICE OF FILING
On September 30, 2005, Longview Power, LLC, whose
address is 1040 Great Plain Avenue, Neeham, Massachusetts 02492-2517 (the
Applicant) filed an application for a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity
pursuant to W.Va. Code ss24-2-11a to construct and operate a high voltage
transmission line in Monongalia County. The applicant and exhibits are
available for public inspection at the Commission’s offices at 201 Brooks
Street, Charleston. Upon its completion, the transmission line will be
used by the Applicant to transport electricity to the grid for the competitive
wholesale market in West Virginia and other locations.
The Applicant proposes to construct a 500 kV
electric transmission line to interconnect its electric generating facility to
the Allegheny Power 750 kV Kammer Fort Martin transmission line near Morgantown,
Monongalia County. Longview will construct a new 500 kV Substation in
Greene County, Pennsylvania.
The Applicant estimates that construction of the
transmission line will cost less than fifty million dollars
($50,000,000).
Neither the Facility nor the transmission line is
a public facility providing service to the public and there will be no impact to
West Virginia Ratepayers. Rates charged for electricity sol by the
Facility will be subject to regulation by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (“FERC”) pursuant to Section 205 of the Federal Power Act.
Longview intends to file a market-based rate schedule with FERC that will allow
sales from the Facility to be at negotiated rates.
The Applicant will be the entity responsible for
the construction and operation of the transmission lines.
The Applicant will enter into an interconnection
and operating agreement with PJM which will govern the Facility’s
interconnection at the new Substation. The Applicant, of the purchasers of
the electricity generated by the Facility, will enter into transmission
service-agreements with Allegheny to govern the transmission of the electricity
across Allegheny’s facilities. Such transmission of electricity will be
subject to the terms of PJM’s Open Access Transmission Tariff on file with the
FERC. The transmission line will not compete with other utilities and will
be for the sole purpose of transmitting the electricity generated at the
Facility into the grid for the wholesale market. The black dashes on the
above map indicates the location of the corridor in which the transmission line
will be located.
WHEREAS, Longview Power, LLC, asserts it is not a
public utility within the meaning of W.Va. Code ss24-2-11 and requests a waiver
of the Public Service Commission’s filing requirements to provide certain
information including proposed rates, project construction costs, project
financing and estimates of operating revenues and expenses, and the information
required by Tariff Rule 42. Other waivers of information filings are also
sought.
Pursuant to ss24-2-11a, West Virginia Code, IT IS
ORDERED that the Longview Power, LLC give notice of the filing of said
application, by publishing a copy as a Class II legal advertisement, two times
in a newspaper duly qualified by the Secretary of State, published and of
general circulation in Monongalia County, and in Kanawha County, making due
return to this Commission of proper certification of publication immediately
after publication. Anyone desiring to protest or intervene should file a
written protest or notice of intervention within 15 days following the second
publication date unless otherwise modified by Commission order. Failure to
timely protest or intervene can affect your right to protest aspects of this
certificate case or to participate in future proceedings. All protests or
requests to intervene should briefly state the reason for the protest or
intervention set forth in the Commission’s Rules of Practice and
Procedure. All protests and interventions should be addressed to Sandra
Squire, Executive Secretary, P. O. Box 812, Charleston, West Virginia
25323.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that if no protests are
received within said fifteen (15) day period, the Commission may waive formal
hearing and grant the application based on the evidence submitted with said
application and its review thereof.
FOR THE
COMMISSION:
Sandra Squire
Executive
Secretary