More News

The Maryland Public Service Commission has rejected an application to build a section of an interstate power line that would cross Frederick County, without ruling on the merits of the project.

The application to build about 20 miles of the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline was "faulty," according to the commission, because it would not be built by an electric company operating within Maryland, as state law requires.

PATH-Allegheny, the legal entity that would construct the line, is a joint venture between Allegheny Energy, based in Pittsburgh, and American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio.

The company on the application is Potomac Edison, an Allegheny subsidiary.

The Public Service Commission ruled that Potomac Edison could not transfer permission to PATH-Allegheny, which is not an electric company. However, the commission stated that its decision should not be read as a comment on the merits of PATH.

Todd Meyers, a spokesman for Allegheny Power, said the decision was a narrow, procedural one, and not a condemnation of the project.

He said the company intends to refile its application, and has 30 days to state its intentions to the commission.

Had the commission accepted the application, it would have had one year to consider it before Allegheny could have taken it before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

However, because the commission rejected the application, that clock has not started ticking.

The applications are ongoing in Virginia and West Virginia, the other states through which the 275-mile line would run, Meyers said.

Allegheny and its partner, American Electric Power, consider the power line to be a vital upgrade to the region's power grid, and if they fail to build by 2014, they will not be able to provide power reliably, Meyers said.

"Abandoning the project is not an option," Meyers said.

E-mail Christian Brown at chbrown@gazette.net.