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Frederick County residents opposed to a proposed multi-state power line were happy to learn that beleaguered project faces another hurdle.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission is considering a motion to reject the power line, as the commission in Maryland already has.

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

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 in the region.

Maryland's Public Service Commission 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 on Oct. 28 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.

Ginny MacColl, a member of the Citizens Against the Kemptown Substation, a group opposed to the 50-acre substation PATH-Allegheny proposes to construct in Mount Airy at the power lines end point, wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette that "[anything] that can stop PATH is welcome news."

MacColl and others object to the proposed power line and substation, citing concerns that the large substation would be located near more than 1,300 homes and would become an eyesore and a potential health hazard.

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 PSC denied the application, the commission gave the company 30 days to state its intention for the project.

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

No further information on the case was available on the Maryland PSC's Web site as of Monday afternoon.

"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 have not decided how to re-file in Maryland.

He wrote that the proposed Kemptown Substation, to be built in southeastern Frederick County, 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.

Meyers wrote that an electrical infrastructure project on the magnitude of PATH has not been constructed in the PJM Interconnection region — 13 states and Washington, D.C. — for decades. The public education campaign the companies undertook was necessary to help customers make an informed decision to support or not support the project, he wrote.

He added that all costs associated with the project would be shared by the nearly 51 million customers throughout the region. In Maryland, this would amount to a projected rate increase of 59 cents per month.

Meyers wrote that the company would continue to fight through legal hurdles to get PATH approved.

"The complexities of this vital electric infrastructure improvement project are enormous," he wrote.

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