W. Va. group urges more power lines

W. Va. group urges more power lines

	Published : Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:28 By : Agencies Print this Story

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - While careful not to take sides in a dispute over a proposed power line that would run through the northern part of the state, a coalition of business and labor groups said new lines are necessary for West Virginia's economic future.

West Virginians for Reliable Power -- an umbrella group representing about two dozen entities, including power companies, unions and coal companies -- outlined their case for new power lines at a presentation Tuesday. Officials said the state's status as an energy exporter is no guarantee against power shortages and blackouts.

'If the transmission infrastructure is not built, we are as likely to suffer blackouts in West Virginia as we are in New Jersey or New Hampshire,' said West Virginia University Institute of Technology President Charles Bayless. 'We are all in this together.'

Bayless, a former electric company CEO, argued that increasing demand for electricity was stressing the country's existing power transmission lines.

The coalition's push comes as the state Public Service Commission is wrapping up public hearings on Allegheny Energy's plan to build a new line between Pennsylvania and Virginia that would cross northern West Virginia.

Allegheny is asking for a 1.2 percent rate increase -- about 90 cents per month for 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity -- to help finance construction of the line.

Opposition to the project has come from local residents rallying around groups like the Halleck Community Association, which argues the lines would not help West Virginians.

'They are coming into my community to take my property to build a power line that won't benefit West Virginia, and they are asking me to pay for it,' said Don Corwin, president of the association.

Members of the reliable power coalition said they aren't taking a position on any project, but are trying to draw attention to the nationwide problem of diminishing transmission capacity.

'There will be opposition, but I think what we have to do is look at the greater good for society,' Bayless said.

Other members of the coalition stressed the secondary economic benefits of new transmission lines, such as construction jobs and new routes for the state to export electric power.

Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, compared the state's electric power-producing industry's relation to the current transmission network to a factory reachable only by a dirt road.

'We have something that these other states want and need,' he said. 'We need these extension cords to get our power to these other states.'

The PSC is scheduled to hold evidentiary hearings on Allegheny's proposal in January. State law requires a decision from regulators by mid-May.