By Bob Niedbala, Staff writer

niedbala@observer-reporter.com

GREENSBORO - Residents in Greene County had the opportunity to testify Wednesday before the state Public Utility Commission on Allegheny Energy's plan to construct a high-voltage power line through Greene and Washington counties.

The first session, held in Greensboro fire hall, attracted about 60 people. Each of the 17 people who testified urged the two PUC administrative law judges hearing the case to reject the company's plan.

The second session in the Carmichaels High School auditorium drew more than 100 people and about 23 were registered to speak.

The judges, Michael Nemec and Mark Hoyer, began hearing testimony on the proposed 37-mile, 500-kilovolt line last week at hearings in Washington County.

They will continue hearings today with two sessions, at 1 and at 7 p.m., in Alumni Hall at Waynesburg University. Additional hearings will be held at Washington County Fairgrounds on Sept. 19 and 20.

Though at previous sessions testimony was presented in support of the company's plan for the line, that wasn't the case at the Greensboro hearing.

Local officials and property owners voiced opposition to the plan, citing health and environmental concerns and the line's effects on property values, agriculture and on their quiet rural lives.

Many also maintained the line is not needed to provide power to Greene and Washington counties as the company has claimed and is only being built to transmit electricity to the east coast.

The company plans to build the high voltage line between a new substation in North Strabane Township and one in Dunkard Township. It also has proposed to extend a line 210 miles from Dunkard Township through West Virginia and on to northern Virginia.

Greene County commissioner Pam Snyder said millions of dollars had been spent to develop sewer and water lines to attract new homeowners to the county.

The proposed power line "defeats all that we have worked so hard to achieve," she said. The county estimates it will lose $2 million in assessed value as a result of the line.

"Does Allegheny Power plan to make up that shortfall?" she asked. "And I would like someone to answer the question, how much projected revenue will Allegheny Power make on this line?"

Snyder cited studies showing a possible link between electro-magnetic fields from power lines and cancer, including childhood leukemia.

Any increased risk of cancer, she said, "is a risk this county commissioner never wants to take for the children of Greene County."

Other methods could be used to provide additional power to the county, if needed, Snyder said, including tapping into two 500-kilovolt lines that already cross the county and are not used to supply power locally.

The new line is expected to run through Snyder's Morgan Township farm, which has been in the family almost a century. Snyder said her daughter recently built a house on the farm. That would never had been done had they known about plans for the line, she said.

Other speakers also expressed concern about the health effects associated with EMF and herbicides used to maintain the power line rights of way.

Attorney Dennis Makel, who represents Jefferson, Cumberland and Morgan townships, said herbicides could pollute groundwater which many residents still rely on for drinking water and for water for their livestock.

Studies are uncertain in regard to the effects of EMF, he said. But should the people of Greene County be "offered up as test subjects?"

The increased use of power plants in this area also will lead to increased air pollution here, Makel said.

James Cowell, a coal miner who runs a farm on Garards Fort Road, said he also was concerned about the line, which will cross his farm.

"If they put that power line in, they put me out of business," he said. Cowell said he sells all natural beef and believes customers won't buy from him because of possible health problems his cattle could suffer from effects of the line.

He suggested the line run along the interstate or be buried underground. "I've lived on the farm for 41 years, raised my kids there, and I don't want to see this happen," he said.

Patsy Morrow of Garards Fort Road said he felt the line that would cross his property would make much of it "virtually worthless."

Morrow said he couldn't understand how additional power was needed when Southwestern Pennsylvania is losing population. With the loss of major industries, the only increase in electric use here has been for homes and retail businesses, he said.

Morrow said he believes the company really intends the line to direct power to the east coast and Virginia.

State Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, also testified, saying it appeared power produced here would be transmitted to the east.

"Most of this power is going to be utilized by suburbanites in Baltimore, Annapolis and Washington," he said. "It would make more sense to me to build a facility in those regions."

DeWeese and others also spoke of alternative methods to address this country's energy needs including building plants closer to where there is demand, conservation, energy efficiency and advanced metering.

Nemec said he and Hoyer hoped to make a recommendation on the company's application in April. Tyrone Christy, one of five PUC commissioners who also attended the sessions, said a final PUC decision could come in late spring or early summer.

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