UNIONTOWN - The showdown begins this week between the power company that says a new high-voltage transmission line is needed to ensure reliable electrical service and the people who live by the proposed power line and don't want it in their back yards.
Allegheny Energy is proposing to build the 500-kilovolt Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line that would cost $1.3 billion and span 240 miles. Thirty-seven miles of the route are planned through Pennsylvania. It has been met with controversy from local residents who are concerned that it will become an eyesore or lower their property values.
The state Public Utility Commission will hold the first of 12 hearings on the issue Wednesday and Thursday. PUC Administrative Law Judges Michael Nemec and Mark Hoyer head the proceedings.
The eight hearings in Washington County will be held at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Aug. 29 and 30 and Sept. 19 and 20. All will be located in building 2 of the county's Fair and Expo Center.
The four hearings in Greene County will be held at 1 p.m. Sept. 5 at Greensboro Volunteer Fire Department and at 7 p.m. in the Carmichaels Area High School auditorium. Another round of hearings is scheduled for 1 and 7 p.m. Sept. 6 on the third floor of Miller Hall at Waynesburg College.
Allegheny Energy officials insist the power line is two projects - one of which will carry power from a substation in Greene County to areas in northern Washington County. The other portion of the project would send electricity south from that same Greene County substation through West Virginia, ending in Loudoun County, Va.
Residents have questioned why this area needs high-voltage power lines with the abundance of power plants in the region.
"You can't get electricity from a power plant without transmission lines," said Jay Ruberto, director of transmission siting for Allegheny Energy. "Transmission lines carry power from where it makes sense to generate to where people live."
Power generation stations are normally built in rural areas, while the electrical load is most needed in urban settings.
Plans for this line began to take shape more than 30 years ago when Allegheny Energy's subsidiary, the former West Penn Power, plotted the 37-mile high-voltage line. As the steel industry fell in the 1970s, so did the plans for the project.
But bustling commercial development in Washington and southern Allegheny counties have re-energized those plans.
On Friday, the company invited members of the media to tour a 500-kV power line near Uniontown in Fayette County and later flew them in a helicopter to inspect the commercial growth near Washington. Flying over the rural landscapes and farms that dot most of the counties, it is easy to spot the bustling shopping centers and housing developments.
The electrical load is already strained with the current development and will be worse in a few years, Ruberto said. He said the 500-kV line and three 138-kV lines will help reinforce the power grid around the area.
Opponents of the project have called for energy conservation as an alternative option for reducing the electrical load.
From the ground, the towers are mammoth. Each ranges in height from 90 to 175 feet. Many are painted a light green in an attempt to blend with the natural landscape.
Most of the towers that criss-cross the nation were built no later than the mid-1970s, and transmission technology has since improved. Company officials said the high-tension wires are more efficient and quieter. The lines, each of which will be the diameter of a a silver dollar, will be tri-bundled rather than twin-bundled.
One of the older high-voltage lines near Mt. Morris emitted a dull buzz that sounded much like a bee's wings with sporadic crackles. Residents living near those lines said they often heard crackling and popping during rainstorms. These particular lines near Uniontown - built in the late 1960s - were much quieter.
The rights-of-way are at least 150 feet wide to prevent trees from falling onto the wires or other vegetation creating a disruption. The trees are leveled along the path, and the excess vegetation along the route is regularly trimmed or treated with herbicides.
More than 90 percent of the right-of-way already is under Allegheny Energy's control after it purchased easements in the 1970s. The remaining landowners along the route will be offered compensation, or the property may be taken through eminent domain.
A number of people who have voiced opposition against the project said they are concerned that their homes in rural settings will be ruined by the towering lines. Company officials countered that the lines will be strategically placed to minimize the impact on people and their homes.
The upcoming hearings are sure to spark emotional pleas from both sides.
More information on the TrAIL project can be found at www.aptrailinfo.com. Information on a grass-roots movement against the power lines can be found at www.stopthetowers.org.