Members of a family sit with signs protesting a high-voltage power line during a meeting held by the state Public Utility Commission Tuesday at the Washington County Fair and Expo Center. From left are Celina McDaid of Eighty Four and Samantha, Chaelyn, Mable and Stacy Cross and Brenda Lemley, all of Scenery Hill. (STAN DIAMOND/©2007 Observer-Reporter)

mjones@observer-reporter.com

The first round of state Public Utility Commission hearings began Wednesday with a split between those in favor and those against a proposed high-voltage power line through the region.

A little more than half of the 23 people who testified at the first public input hearing said they were opposed to the construction of the transmission and the ramifications it could have on their property or health. The first hearing drew more than 100 people, although many left before it was completed. Fourteen people, 13 of whom were against the construction, testified at a second hearing Wednesday evening.

The hearings are in response to Allegheny Energy's proposal to build a 37-mile 500-kilovolt transmission line that would bring power from southern Greene County to a substation in North Strabane Township.

PUC Administrative Law Judges Michael Nemec and Mark Hoyer presided over the 31/2-hour hearing. Other officials at the hearing, all of whom were permitted to ask questions, included lawyers representing Allegheny Energy, members of the PUC trial staff, an official from the state Office of the Consumer Advocate, a lawyer representing affected property owners and a member of the Energy Conservation Council of Pennsylvania.

Some property owners who live in the proposed Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line expressed frustration over sketchy maps showing where the lines and towers will be placed. A few complained that they have found it difficult to receive specific answers for their questions about the proposal.

Dennis Moran of Scenery Hill questioned whether his groundwater would be contaminated by the herbicides to clear brush along the path.

"Our property value will be decimated. Who will want to live in close proximity to these power lines?" Moran said. "AP will profit, everyone else will suffer."

Patty Ayres told the judges she has learned that her grandparents' farm house must be razed to make way for the power lines, although family members no longer live there.

"I'm saddened it's going to go through the house I grew up in," she said. "I'm sad it will affect my neighbors."

Others, though, testified that this region is in desperate need of upgrades to the transmission grid.

Michael Love, a former member of the New Hampshire PUC, pointed to the recent bridge collapse in Minneapolis as a need for new infrastructure.

"The need for new electrical lines has been needed for decades, but it took the blackout in the Northeast in 2003 to illustrate that," Love said.

Bill Shane, former chairman of the PUC, recalled several briefings in recent years with Allegheny Energy officials who were concerned that the rising power demand during summer months could cripple the electrical grid. Shane, who lives in Indiana County, said two 500-kV lines stretch across his property.

"They're all in my back yard, and I got no problem with it," Shane said. "I love it."

Will Burns of the Energy Conservation Council asked him why he traveled to Washington County to testify. Shane responded that an Allegheny Energy official asked him to do so, although he added he was not compensated for his comments to the PUC. An Allegheny Energy advertisement in yesterday's Observer-Reporter showed a photo of Shane advocating the TrAIL project.

The three Washington County commissioners combined their testimony into one statement given by Commissioner Larry Maggi. He told the administrative law judges that local officials are concerned about the use of eminent domain and how the lines will impact the agricultural landscape of the county. State Sen. J. Barry Stout, D-Bentleyville, followed a few minutes later and said, "Few issues, if any, have mobilized my constituents."

The hearings continue today at the Washington County fairgrounds. There will be four more hearings in Washington County and four in Greene County next month.

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