Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline

PATH, the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline, is a 244 mile, 765-kilovolt transmission line proposal, designed to carry a vastly enhanced amount of coal-fired generation to states and cities in the mid-Atlantic East Coast.

PATH is proposed by Greensburg, Pa.-based Allegheny Energy and Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power (AEP), with a $1.8 billion price tag and an expected in-service date of 2013. The PATH line would draw power largely from the John Amos power plant, which uses mountain top and strip mined coal, and other coal-fired generators in the Ohio River Valley.

The PATH transmission line would begin at St Albans, just northeast of Charleston, WV. After tracking nearly 200 miles through WV, the line would cross into Frederick County, Virginia, then Jefferson County, WV, and then into northern Loudoun County, VA. PATH would then cross over the Blue Ridge, past Neersville, over the Short Hills, and through Lovettsville to cross the Potomac above Point of Rocks. In Loudoun County the project would either follow and substantially widen the existing right of way (currently a 500 kv and 135 kv lines) or follow an entirely new route looping around the Blue Ridge Center and, in Lovettsville, looping just north of the town, in both cases to avoid conservation easements or, more likely, simply to show an alternative to the right of way.

PATH will select one or more routes to present to state utility regulators in W. Va., and Maryland, and Virginia as part of its application for Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity in each of the three states. Towers for a 765 kV line are usually a lattice steel structure between 140 and 160 feet tall. New or additional rights of way will be needed for the entire length of the proposed line.

This proposal is was approved by the 13 state utility coordinating group PJM, which manages the massive transmission grid stretching from Chicago to the East Coast (excluding New England). The PATH line was conceived as part of Project Mountaineer, a PJM plan to move 5000MW of low cost coal-generated power from the Ohio River Valley to markets in the Northeast, where generation is more expensive to build and keep online due to air quality restrictions. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has granted the applicants 14.3% return on its investment in planning and constructing the PATH line. These costs will be redeemed by raising energy bills to all consumers in the PJM territory.

No independent studies or environmental impact statements have been done showing why PATH is needed, given continuing declines in the growth of electricity demand. Rather than seeking to shunt PATH over to other counties or neighbors -- a neighbor vs neighbor tactic PATH would welcome -- opponents are attacking the basic rationale of the line; PATH is not needed to meet demand growth (growth is declining significantly), efficiency can further reduce demand, other generating and renewable systems closer to the market area exist, and the highly polluting and greenhouse gas-emitting coal generation favored by PATH should be reduced, not encouraged.

Congressman Frank Wolf has been fighting PATH and has urged the three state governors to establish a three state compact to conduct the studies needed to address transmission line impacts and alternatives.

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