More News

The West Virginia Public Service Commission is considering a motion to reject a multi-state power line, as commissions in Maryland already has, further complicating the beleaguered project.

The Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline would be a 275-mile power line extending from a power station in southwestern West Virginia, through Virginia and ending at a proposed substation in southern Frederick County, Maryland.

PATH is a joint venture of Allegheny Energy and American Electric Power, and both companies maintain that the multi-state power line is necessary to maintain reliable electric service to the region.

Maryland's Public Service Commission has already denied the project on a technicality, and because of Maryland's denial, Virginia's State Corporation Commission is also considering denial.

Staff for West Virginia's Public Service Commission filed a motion Wednesday to deny the project as well.

West Virginia commission staff cited uncertainty about the power line's endpoint as the main reason for its motion.

On Sept. 9, the Maryland Public Service Commission rejected Potomac Edison's application for PATH 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 Allegheny and American Electric Power, based in Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively. The company on the application was 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.

When Maryland's public service commission denied the application, the commission gave the company 30 days to state its intention for the project. On Oct. 9, Joseph Curran III, an attorney for Potomac Edison, delivered a letter to the commission, stating that the company continued to consider its options.

In its motion, West Virginia's commission staff members said it was concerned that Potomac Edison had yet to re-file an application 50 days after Maryland's denial.

"In light of PATH's failure to facilitate a proper filing in Maryland almost 50 days after dismissal, any claims that time is of the essence in these proceedings certainly seem disingenuous," the motion states.

Todd Meyers, a spokesman for Allegheny Energy, wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette that Allegheny and American Electric Power were still reviewing West Virginia's and Virginia's motions for denial, and had not decided how to re-file in Maryland.

He wrote that the proposed Kemptown Substation, to be built in southeastern Frederick County, Maryland, remained PATH's intended end point, and that the company would be issuing its decision for how to proceed in Maryland in the near future.

"I cannot offer a more precise timeframe," he wrote.

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