Virginia's Commitment

Many of you may have missed the Thursday, August 21, 2008 Virginia News Brief in the Washington Post on State Corporation Commission judicial appointee, James C. Dimitri, which was tucked away on Page B08. (See our 08/21/08 news post).

Mr. Dimitri made the right decision in recusing himself from participating in deliberations over the 65-mile power line proposed by Dominion Power. Dimitri had been one of the lead attorneys in the SCC case during last winter's evidentiary hearings on the Loudoun Line.

Breaking News...

Pennsylvania's two Public Utility Commission's hearing officers have recommended permits be denied for their segment of the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line Company (TrAILCo) transmission line project...502 Junction to Loudoun County,Virginia.

Virginia's Commitment lead attorney, Michael Gerrard, is completing his analysis of the report, but states the Conclusion section contains a "stirring discussion" of why the case has not been made for the line, and that its real purpose is to help coal-generated electricity from the west move east.

Excerpts:

Associated Press - February 25, 2008

Richmond, VA (AP) - "The State Corporation Commission on Monday began a multi-week evidentiary hearing over Dominion Virginia Power's application for the Virginia portion of a proposed $1.3 billion multistate power line...

'It is imperative that new transmission infrastructure be built in a timely way to maintain the reliability of service,' said James C. Dimitri, an attorney representing Dominion, which plans to build the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line with Greensburg,Pa - based Allegheny Energy."

From Virginia's Commitment comments to the SCC:

"The present Applications therefore embody more than an appeal for approval of a single power line: they solicit the validation of a comprehensive methodology of transmission planning, to be applied in the foreseeable future...the impact of the Commission's decision, whatever it may be, will be felt beyond the interests of the Applicants and the Respondents in this case...that the precedent set here may serve as guidance in the inevitable event of similar future proposals."

You may read the comments in their entirety on the SCC website:

Reading today's post from the Roanoke Times editorial page, "Beware the Wind Energy Hot Air," brings home what I have stated before...wind farms built throughout the Texas plains will only increase transmission line corridors to the East. Something none of us wants to see happen.

This week has been a tsunami of events and emotions relating to the future of transmission lines, beginning with the recommended approval by the Virginia SCC hearing examiner on the Loudoun Line, and ending the week with an announcement by the West Virginia Public Service Commission to approve their portion of the construction.

As we wait for word from the Pennsylvania utility commission, there remains a glimmer of hope that they will deny approval and forestall the process for TrAILCo and Dominion Power to move forward with the construction.

By now, many of you have heard from the PEC or heard the news that the State Corporation Commission's hearing examiner has recommended giving conditional approval to the 500 kilovolt transmission line (aka Loudoun Line).

A quick read through of today’s news post from EurActiv.com - “Microgeneration: Power to the people” is enlightening and educational. Interestingly, some of the site’s sponsors include American companies, Exxon and Shell Oil.

With T. Boone Pickens' plan for wind and solar energy gaining momentum in the media, I thought I would pull a quote from a blog I wrote on April 11, 2008..."Renewable energy from distant sources will move us away from coal-fired generation, but not transmission lines. The burden rests with distributed generation, demand side management, energy efficiency and private/public sector enterprise to create local/regional energy independence."

The following was presented by Michael Gerrard, Virginia's Commitment lead attorney, in his closing arguments before the State Corporation Commission on July 9, 2008.

1.The PJM and Dominion scenarios ignored the substantial amount of Demand Response that was bid into the Reliability Pricing Model (RPM) auction. Adding that in would greatly reduce the peak loads that cause the reliability problems.

2. The alleged violations of the reliability criteria are so low that they can be readily solved through redispatch, and at a much lower cost than building the Loudoun Line.