Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., is criticizing a proposed power line that would run through Loudoun and Frederick counties in a letter to the state’s utility regulator.
Allegheny Power and American Electric Power applied to build the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline project in Virginia and Maryland last week and have already applied to build the line in neighboring West Virginia. The power line would run from West Virginia, through Loudoun County near Lovettsville to Frederick, Md.
An analysis conducted by regional grid operator PJM Interconnection Inc. says “significant overloads and voltage problems will occur in the region, beginning in June 2014, if the PATH project is not completed.”
But Wolf disagreed.
“I have yet to see anything to convince me that unless these huge power lines are built across our region, we will be sitting in dark homes and offices,” he wrote in a Tuesday letter to the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
“Instead, in my review of these plans, all I see is that regions along the East Coast where the power will be shipped will reap the benefits and the ‘benefits’ for our region will be towering structures strung with wire dotting the countryside and backyards of the places we call home, not to mention higher rates for our consumers to pay for new power lines that will not bring power to their homes.”
A spokesman for Allegheny Power said he could not comment, because he had not seen the letter from Wolf.
The commission, which just received the application, has not laid out a schedule for the project, said agency spokesman Ken Schrad.
Wolf also called for more public input on the project.
“I respectfully request that you, as the commissioners of the SCC, hold public hearings in the affected areas and that at least one of you attend each hearing. … Some believe that the SCC has become a rubber stamp for the industries it regulates. I believe that having at least one commissioner attend any public hearing held would help to restore public confidence.”
Schrad said the commission has held public hearings in the affected areas in every instance that he could remember.
Jennifer Allen, a Wolf spokeswoman, said the congressman has not talked directly to the agency about his concerns with the power line.
Wolf also has written several letters to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine urging him to weigh in on the proposal.
