New Site!

Go see the new site! I won't be updating this one any more.

http://www.dropthelines.com

See you there!

PPL Uses Eminent Domain in Bucks!

I just came across this and wanted to pass it along. PPL is attempting to use eminent domain in Bucks County. Remember when I asked the question if they would be pursuing eminent domain if the PUC turned down their initial proposal?

If you follow this link,

http://www.puc.state.pa.us/General/Hearings.aspx?ShowDetail=06/02/2008

You will see 5 hearing scheduled for the week of June 2nd, 2008 against individual land owners. Here's what each one says...

For a finding and determination that the service to be furnished by the applicant through its proposed exercise of the Power of Eminent Domain to acquire a right-of-way and easement for the construction, operation and maintenance of the proposed Coopersburg #1 and #2 138/69 kV Tap Reconstruction over and across the lands of (landowner's name) in (township name), Bucks County is necessary or proper for the service, accommodation, convenience or safety to the public.

Scary, no?

Lehigh Elementary School

Unfortunately, the location of Lehigh Elementary School (in Lehigh Township) is less than desirable. According to the map and based on it's proximity to Bossard's Corner, it is within 4,000 ft of the 500 kV line.

The reason why I would move is not only because my children would have to live within 200 ft of the line, but when they went to school, they wouldn't even get a break!

I think I just found the way to get more people in Lehigh Township involved.

Northampton Meeting in the News

The meeting last night was in some of the local media last night and this morning. I can't seem to find a link though to the Channel 69 News story.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-5ppl.6480320jun27,0,4644839.story

http://www.pennlive.com/expresstimes/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-17/1214539539301250.xml&coll=2

Also, Bernie O'Hare has posted a blog entry about State Rep. Craig Dally's opposition to Option C
that is well worth the read.

http://lehighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com/2008/06/stae-rep-dally-to-ppl-we-dont-need-no.html

Congratulations on a job well done!

I think I speak for everyone when I say - Great job over the past week in getting the word out. I was thrilled when I pulled in at 5PM and saw how many people showed up. Your dedication to this cause definitely had PPL scrambling a bit tonight, which was excellent to see. The rumors were that about 500 people showed up tonight (estimates by PPL mostly). We got tons of email addresses and signatures and got to meet each other, which was the best part of the evening (besides watching them squirm a bit).

In case you were not aware or involved, we had a mini-town hall style meeting in the back room of the Community Center for about an hour and a half. PPL was trying to keep the group small initially, but it ended up being over 100 people. Greg Smith was kind enough to answer questions, but it was clear that many of us wanted to not only ask questions, but also make sure they understood our opinions. It was great to see our group band together and remind PPL that they used to care about the environment, that we have real families involved here who love the Appalachian Trail and the rural beauty of Blue Mountain (and will fight for it), and that our lives are in jeopardy of being ruined and commercialized for their shareholders profits.

Check out this blog to catch up on the story so far. Many of you have the new address - http://www.dropthelines.com, but it's not up yet! I just bought it this morning. There are documents, information on contacting government officials, template letters to use and it is only going to grow. We need to keep the heat on PPL. Just because their meeting is done, that doesn't mean our job is!

Thanks again and it was a pleasure to meet you all.

File an Informal Complaint with the PUC

This link was forwarded over to me today. We can file an informal complaint with the PUC prior to them getting an official proposal from PPL. Just go to

http://www.puc.state.pa.us/General/informal_complaint_form.aspx

and fill out the information. Keep in mind that the PUC is aware of the PPL Transmission line proposal as it has appeared in a recent newsletter, but PPL has not formally submitted anything yet since the decision has not been made.

If you prefer snail mail, write them at
Bureau of Consumer Services
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission
P.O. BOX 3265
Harrisburg, PA. 17105-3265

On the right side of this page, I've also added a very informative link to how the PUC submission process for transmission lines works. You can go directly to it here"

http://www.puc.state.pa.us/general/consumer_ed/pdf/Transmission_Lines.pdf

Lehigh Valley Ramblings Blog

Bernie O'Hare has written an excellent article on his "Lehigh Valley Ramblings" blog. His reasons for PPL building the transmission line are spot on - they are even mentioned in PJM's long term assessment of the line.

I highly recommend you check it out!

http://lehighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com/2008/06/big-coal-real-reason-why-ppl-wants.html

Channel 69 News - Top Story!

I was happy to see Channel 69 news cover the Forks Township PPL meeting as their top story!

http://wfmz.com/view/?id=288326

I've heard about 100 people attending, but the Northampton one will definitely have more than that. I know a lot of you have been getting the word out where you can and I think it's helping. I really don't think Channel 69 news wouldn't have been there without us pushing so hard.

Good job everyone!

Go PJ

In case you missed it, PJ was on the front page of the Morning Call!

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_1ppl.6475639jun25,0,1988974.story

Not just PA, but shareholders too!

This isn't just a fight for PA, but it's a fight against a publicly traded corporation with real shareholders. This is the excerpt from the latest 10Q filing.

(PPL and PPL Electric)
In June 2007, PJM approved the construction of a new 130-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line between the Susquehanna substation in Pennsylvania and the Roseland substation in New Jersey that has been identified as essential to long-term reliability of the mid-Atlantic electricity grid. PJM determined that the line is needed to prevent potential overloads that could occur in the next decade on several existing transmission lines in the interconnected PJM system. PJM has directed PPL Electric to construct the portion of the Susquehanna-Roseland line in Pennsylvania and has directed Public Service Electric & Gas Company (PSE&G) to construct the portion of the line in New Jersey by June 1, 2012. PPL Electric's estimated share is between $300 million and $500 million. PPL Electric's capital projections currently include approximately $320 million for the new transmission line, which will require certain regulatory approvals.
In December 2007, PPL Electric and PSE&G filed a joint petition for a declaratory order with the FERC requesting approval of transmission rate incentives for the Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line. The companies requested: (1) an additional 1.5% allowed rate of return on equity; (2) recognition of construction work in progress in rate base; (3) recovery of all costs if the project is cancelled; and (4) an additional 0.5% allowed rate of return on equity for membership in PJM. In April 2008, the FERC approved the filing and granted all of the requested incentives except that the allowed rate of return on equity was approved at 1.25%.

from:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/317187/000092222408000035/ppl10q.htm

What are the real benefits to Option C? Option A and B address reliability issues and can help new generation points in PA reach PA customers according to the PJM. Option C seems to exist mostly to deliver electricity to New Jersey. What are the PPL profits on PSE&G using these lines over in perpetuity?

Contact our Local Media Outlets!

The more people that contact our local media, the more chances it will be that they will show up at Thursday night's meeting. Here are some links to contact our local news stations:

Channel 69 News
NBC News (Philly)
ABC News (Philly)
CBS News (Philly)

If you would like to contact the Morning Call, send an email to letters@mcall.com.

You can contact the Easton Express at 1 800-360-3601.

Also, a lot of folks in the valley listen to Bobby Gunther Walsh on WAEB. You can email him our plight at gunther@waeb.com.

If you hear anything, email dropthelines@blogspot.com and let me know!

PJM Assessment of Option C

The PJM has been tasked with ensuring the reliability of the power grid in the Northeast United States. While they were formed prior to the blackout of 2003, the reliability of the power grid since that time has been their driving focus.

Option C or the Bossards Line is actually assessed by the PJM on their website and their opinion is that it is less than desirable.

According to PJM documents, the Bossards line would "have required the outage of several 230 kV lines along the proposed route which would have significantly impacted area reliability. In addition, the Bossards alternative provided much less benefit with respect to integrating new generation in north-central and northeastern Pennsylvania."
Citation:http://www2.pjm.com/planning/downloads/rtep-2007/2007-section3a.pdf (Page 10)

Furthermost, there is an article on PPL's website which states "Experts: Pennsylvania has critical need for improved electrical infrastructure or state could face blackouts; demand for energy in state is currently outstripping supply", but this power line does not deliver electricity to our state. Options A and B, which would involve replacing older lines, would improve Pennsylvania's electrical infrastructure and its reliability. Option C does not do enough to further this - its primary goal is to take power to New Jersey.

What this means is that Options A and B will not only meet with the increasing demand of energy in New Jersey, but also address the aging infrastructure that services Pennsylvania better than Option C.

Join us!

In the Community Meeting today, we formed a community group to keep information flowing. If you'd like to join this group, please send an email to dropthelines@gmail.com.

The group is called RUSP: Residents United to Stop PPL's Proposed Power line (Route 'C').

We will be sending out helpful information and your email address will be strictly confidential.

Community Meeting - 6/20 at 10AM

This is probably late notice, but I just found out myself. There is a community meeting at Covenant United Methodist Church at 10AM tomorrow morning.

2715 Mountain View Drive
Bath, PA 18104

Incorrect Information on PPL's Website

The website mentions "The line then moves east-northeast through Northampton County on the path of an existing power line." This is INCORRECT!

The Morning Call has ran a correction about this, but PPL's own website still has this information.

While I don't think they are intentionally sending out dis-information, it is concerning.

Susquehana-Roseland Project Summary

If you were living anywhere in the US in August of 2003, you would have heard about the (now infamous) Northeast Power Outage. With the rising requirements for energy, PPL would have you believe this type of occurence is right around the corner without the Susquehana-Roseland Project, which brings power from a station in Berwick, PA into New Jersey.

This scenario is entirely possible, I won't lie to you. While that particular power outage was caused by a unique scenario involving multiple power plants outages and failover line capacity, Americans are obviously hungry for more energy (in about 10 minutes, I myself will be playing XBox). The question is - where is the best route to bring this energy to the masses (or at least New Jersey).

Options A and B seem to make the most sense if for no other reason then they seem to follow the use of existing infrastructure - however the lay of the land through the northern part of the Lehigh Valley (Option C) could prove to be an easy build for PPL.

PPL is asking for the public's input and I strongly encourage Lehigh Valley residents to attend the meetings and voice their concerns. I will be updating this blog with information and assessments on how I see things. I'm no doctor, I'm not an EMF expert, I'm not even an environmental wingnut - I'm just one concerned citizen who does not want to
- sell his home (I love my house)
- risk his family's health
- see rural townships lose tax dollars from low property values
- see his neighbors risk their health

I hope I can persuade you that Option C is not the right way to go!