Do Not Be Fooled By PATH's "experts"
May 25, 2009
Re: PATH (Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline)
I am writing in protest to the PATH project that was filed with the State of WV on May 15, 2009 so that the citizens of WV understand the implications and ramifications of PATH. Citizens have already been sorely misled on the impact of mountaintop removal, have been taken advantage of as their waters and land have been ruined, and they have suffered high cancer rates, overall declines in health, childhood diseases, deformities, and birth defects as a result of this deception. Now we are expected to suffer yet another injustice. We should no longer tolerate the lies, political manipulation, big business hand shaking, and the general mindset that the people of WV are ignorant fools residing in what big business and apparently our WV Legislature seem to perceive as “America’s Toilet.”
FACT: American Electric Power (AEP) and Allegheny Power have joined in an effort to bisect our state for a 765 KiloVolt (kv) (and in some parts 2 500 kv) high voltage electrical transmission line that will route power THROUGH our state but not to it.
FACT: The cost of this is 1.849 Billion Dollars. The WV segment is $998 Million Dollars.
FACT: All West Virginia citizens will pay for this in their power bills and WV tax payer money will pay for repairs and maintenance, while the state receives none of the electricity. Some elected officials obviously need to be changed.
FACT: The proposed route bisects forests and private properties. If the WV Public Service Commission approves the proposal, the power companies can exercise eminent domain, which essentially means they can do what they want with our property whether we want them to or not. Most likely they will offer ridiculously low amounts of money to compensate for this permanent destruction. Perhaps a better term for this would be “enema domain.”
FACT: The “PATH of Destruction” is 2200 feet wide (almost half a mile wide) and includes a 200 foot right of way for the power company. PATH has requested to be able to have jurisdiction of the 1,100 feet on each side of the proposed route to best determine where to erect the towers. It extends from Putnam and goes through Kanawha, Roane, Calhoun, Gilmer, Lewis, Upshur, Barbour, Tucker, Grant, Hardy, and into Hampshire County. It then crosses into Maryland, back into JeffersonCounty, and then into Maryland again. Keep in mind that access roads will also be built on your property for line maintenance and upkeep. So much for peace and quiet. Check the map of the proposed route on www.pathtransmission.com for the towers near you.
FACT: People living near the lines will hear a constant “buzz/hum” and will forever see snappy blue sparks emanating from the lines.
FACT: Studies have shown positive associations and increased risk for people living near high voltage transmission lines for childhood leukemia, neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s, severe depression, anxiety, suicidal tendencies, breast cancer (almost a 60% increase), and malignant melanoma. If that isn’t bad enough, the electromagnetic field can mess up pacemakers.
FACT: WV already has a high rate of depression and suicide. Our state has already been destroyed by mountain top removal Why allow PATH to do this when wind and solar energy can be harnessed? If other states need more power, let them build a power station or encourage them to explore alternative energy sources in their own state, as I am sure WV will eventually have to explore. They have more money than us. This is supposedly the direction we should be taking anyway. Why should we spend money on another state's energy source that is coal based (and it isn't even for WV) when according to the Obama campaign, the focus is supposed to be on renewable energy?
Here is something fun and interesting:
FACT: American Electric Power paid the country of Bolivia 10.8 million dollars to KEEP their trees in order to pretend that they actually care about global warming. This is called "avoided deforestation." Yet they want to cut down ours and take private land and not compensate us fairly or take into account emotional distress or attachment to the land? Something is wrong with that picture.
FACT: Trees intake carbon dioxide which is a greenhouse gas. Fewer trees mean more global warming. So now in addition to the above listed items, we can add that to the list for WV.
FACT: Wildfires from downed power lines burned 1 million acres in Texas in March, 2006. PATH proposes that the lines be placed in “mostly wooded” areas. Show me a fire truck that can climb up a WV mountain to put out the fire. We do not have the technology or the funds to be able to fight a potential disaster like this. As our firefighters put themselves in danger to fight a fire that will be bigger than they can handle, we will have to wait for help to arrive from other places. While we wait, we can watch our land burn for the PATH that provides power to other states. The towers that PATH forces us to have on our land will serve as conductors for lightning as well. Lightning can carry a current of 300-500 kilo amperes and can charge extended metal objects, such as the towers that PATH is proposing. Those towers will be around 180-200 feet tall and will tower over all of the trees, at least what is left of the trees after the path is cut. Essentially PATH is proposing that WV put their land up for an increased chance of lightening strikes, fires, and downed lines. PATH is trying to destroy what is left of the pristine nature of our state.
FACT: On March 30, 2009 President Obama signed the Wild Monongahela Act into law permanently protecting 37,771 acres of the Monongahela National Forest. President Obama, I implore you to help the rest of our state. Save WV from further destruction. WV may be one of the poorest states, but it is one of the most beautiful states and it is being ruined and the people here are being poisoned and taken advantage of. Please keep PATH out of West Virginia, we have suffered enough. If we have to pay for it, shouldn't we be able to decide if we want it? This is a step backward, and not a step forward into renewable energy. Furthermore, since taxpayer dollars already pay for federal national parks, instead of shafting private rural land owners, why not run the line through federal land?
FACT: Throughout the USA, state regulators are requiring electric companies to rely LESS on coal because coal is the biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the US. More than ½ of the nation’s electricity is from coal. In WV, 99% of electricity is from coal. The electricity that PATH will provide is NOT even for WV but WV citizens will have to pay for it both physically and financially and we will be forced to give up our land. This is just a way for them to run cheap electricity to three states away rather than have those states pay for their own energy sources.
The destruction will be permanent. Does WV always have to be backward and behind the times? Other states have legislation that protects the people. WV legislation does not protect us, because our Governor does not think for himself and is under the control of big coal. Not only is PATH trying to destroy our nature, they are forcing us to stay in the past and it will result in more pollution, cancer and birth defects. They are trying to turn WV into a cesspool of pollution because we are poor. I think that Allegheny Power and American Electric see the writing on the wall and are trying to secure their future at our expense. Is this another ENRON?
American Electric and Allegheny Power: If you really care about the environment as you claim, I challenge you to reroute your lines or build plants in the states that need it. Can you really be so unintelligent and small minded to deface our state for the sake of others. Why don’t you give WV 10.8 million dollars to not cut down our trees? We can use that money to start moving forward in finding alternative energy sources. Are you planning on offering each property owner millions of dollars? Are your engineers unable to find a different solution? Maybe someone else should have your job. Maybe someone who actually cares.
Leave WV as it is as we try to move forward into the future. How much more do we have to give at our own expense and at the expense of future generations?
Enough of defacing the land, destroying the ecosystems, and the opportunity for us to buy cancer and other diseases at rock bottom prices. It doesn’t have to be on your property to affect you.
Now, for all of you hunters and farmers out there, this next one is for you.
FACT: The practice of clear cutting/bisecting forests results in a phenomenon called fragmentation. When a habitat is fragmented it creates more edge habitat and decreases forest cover. Certain species thrive in each habitat. A bisected clear cut path will increase the population of the white footed mouse. The white footed mouse carries an organism that gives ticks Lyme disease. In addition, the white tail deer will overpopulate. Deer also carry the tick with Lyme disease. Essentially this PATH of destruction is allowing Lyme disease to be more prevalent. Rodents, cowbirds/blackbirds, rabbits and raccoons will also become more numerous. Guess what? The natural predators of the white footed mouse and other rodents, such as hawks and owls, will decline in number due to a decrease in forest cover. Say goodbye to the owl and hawk and hello Lyme disease! Birds such as warblers, cardinals (ironically, our state bird), squirrels (gray and red), chipmunks, bear, and wild turkey will decline as they lose their home to PATH. As for the PATH of destruction, well, at least it provides a nice route for coyotes to follow with easier access to your livestock. Research has shown that coyotes follow "corridors."
You can take a fluorescent bulb and walk near those power lines and it will light up. Anything metal will be a conductor for an electric charge. I would not want to be holding a hunting rifle or shotgun around those lines if I were you.
FACT: PATH will repeatedly use herbicides to keep growth down. Is this Agent Orange round two? So all of your landowners out there, or anyone forced to live near the lines - now YOU too can be exposed to herbicides!
Now that the power companies and PJM Interconnection have decided that "this is necessary," we are now put in a position where we have to prove that they are wrong and defend our land. We need to fight this and prove to the WV Public Service Commission that this is not a necessity, that it is detrimental, and should not be approved in our state. If the PSC approves PATH, it’s a done deal and WV will be permanently scarred. You have to act now in order to stop it or it will be too late and your life and the land will cease to exist as you know it.
I am thoroughly disgusted and outraged that these power companies can just decide to take our land. My family owns land that has been in my family for 200 years. It is truly detestable that after generations of paying taxes and caring for the land, that someone else could decide to tear a path through it, without even giving us consideration, to benefit people that don’t even live here. I have lost faith in the government system. What is the point of paying taxes if you can’t even really truly own your land and it can be taken from you at the whim of big business?
Land has been taken by force before and it is a blight in American History. Some people never learn from past mistakes. Apparently these people are in office. If I am wrong, I sincerely apologize to the people in office and I look forward to watching you join the fight for WV, as I am sure the other citizens of WV will as well.
WV is known for scenic beauty, forest habitat, and recreational hunting. PATH, you are taking away the scenic beauty, forest habitat, recreational hunting and leaving us with severe medical issues. May your souls be condemned like you condemn the land, may you be left with cancer and painful scars, may your spirits be marked in black. May you never wash the mountain blood from your hands.
On this Memorial Day of 2009, I should be honoring those who fought for our land, some of whom were ancestors who lived on the very land now in question. Instead I am writing to those who are trying to destroy it from within.
West Virginia- Are you ready to fight like true Mountaineers or will you allow yourself to be insulted and degraded and brainwashed like always?
Disgusted Citizen,
Rachelle Channell
Organizer
www.PATHLLC.org
May 25, 2009
Re: PATH (Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline)
I am writing in protest to the PATH project that was filed with the State of WV on May 15, 2009 so that the citizens of WV understand the implications and ramifications of PATH. Citizens have already been sorely misled on the impact of mountaintop removal, have been taken advantage of as their waters and land have been ruined, and they have suffered high cancer rates, overall declines in health, childhood diseases, deformities, and birth defects as a result of this deception. Now we are expected to suffer yet another injustice. We should no longer tolerate the lies, political manipulation, big business hand shaking, and the general mindset that the people of WV are ignorant fools residing in what big business and apparently our WV Legislature seem to perceive as “America’s Toilet.”
FACT: American Electric Power (AEP) and Allegheny Power have joined in an effort to bisect our state for a 765 KiloVolt (kv) (and in some parts 2 500 kv) high voltage electrical transmission line that will route power THROUGH our state but not to it.
FACT: The cost of this is 1.849 Billion Dollars. The WV segment is $998 Million Dollars.
FACT: All West Virginia citizens will pay for this in their power bills and WV tax payer money will pay for repairs and maintenance, while the state receives none of the electricity. Some elected officials obviously need to be changed.
FACT: The proposed route bisects forests and private properties. If the WV Public Service Commission approves the proposal, the power companies can exercise eminent domain, which essentially means they can do what they want with our property whether we want them to or not. Most likely they will offer ridiculously low amounts of money to compensate for this permanent destruction. Perhaps a better term for this would be “enema domain.”
FACT: The “PATH of Destruction” is 2200 feet wide (almost half a mile wide) and includes a 200 foot right of way for the power company. PATH has requested to be able to have jurisdiction of the 1,100 feet on each side of the proposed route to best determine where to erect the towers. It extends from Putnam and goes through Kanawha, Roane, Calhoun, Gilmer, Lewis, Upshur, Barbour, Tucker, Grant, Hardy, and into Hampshire County. It then crosses into Maryland, back into JeffersonCounty, and then into Maryland again. Keep in mind that access roads will also be built on your property for line maintenance and upkeep. So much for peace and quiet. Check the map of the proposed route on www.pathtransmission.com for the towers near you.
FACT: People living near the lines will hear a constant “buzz/hum” and will forever see snappy blue sparks emanating from the lines.
FACT: Studies have shown positive associations and increased risk for people living near high voltage transmission lines for childhood leukemia, neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s, severe depression, anxiety, suicidal tendencies, breast cancer (almost a 60% increase), and malignant melanoma. If that isn’t bad enough, the electromagnetic field can mess up pacemakers.
FACT: WV already has a high rate of depression and suicide. Our state has already been destroyed by mountain top removal Why allow PATH to do this when wind and solar energy can be harnessed? If other states need more power, let them build a power station or encourage them to explore alternative energy sources in their own state, as I am sure WV will eventually have to explore. They have more money than us. This is supposedly the direction we should be taking anyway. Why should we spend money on another state's energy source that is coal based (and it isn't even for WV) when according to the Obama campaign, the focus is supposed to be on renewable energy?
Here is something fun and interesting:
FACT: American Electric Power paid the country of Bolivia 10.8 million dollars to KEEP their trees in order to pretend that they actually care about global warming. This is called "avoided deforestation." Yet they want to cut down ours and take private land and not compensate us fairly or take into account emotional distress or attachment to the land? Something is wrong with that picture.
FACT: Trees intake carbon dioxide which is a greenhouse gas. Fewer trees mean more global warming. So now in addition to the above listed items, we can add that to the list for WV.
FACT: Wildfires from downed power lines burned 1 million acres in Texas in March, 2006. PATH proposes that the lines be placed in “mostly wooded” areas. Show me a fire truck that can climb up a WV mountain to put out the fire. We do not have the technology or the funds to be able to fight a potential disaster like this. As our firefighters put themselves in danger to fight a fire that will be bigger than they can handle, we will have to wait for help to arrive from other places. While we wait, we can watch our land burn for the PATH that provides power to other states. The towers that PATH forces us to have on our land will serve as conductors for lightning as well. Lightning can carry a current of 300-500 kilo amperes and can charge extended metal objects, such as the towers that PATH is proposing. Those towers will be around 180-200 feet tall and will tower over all of the trees, at least what is left of the trees after the path is cut. Essentially PATH is proposing that WV put their land up for an increased chance of lightening strikes, fires, and downed lines. PATH is trying to destroy what is left of the pristine nature of our state.
FACT: On March 30, 2009 President Obama signed the Wild Monongahela Act into law permanently protecting 37,771 acres of the Monongahela National Forest. President Obama, I implore you to help the rest of our state. Save WV from further destruction. WV may be one of the poorest states, but it is one of the most beautiful states and it is being ruined and the people here are being poisoned and taken advantage of. Please keep PATH out of West Virginia, we have suffered enough. If we have to pay for it, shouldn't we be able to decide if we want it? This is a step backward, and not a step forward into renewable energy. Furthermore, since taxpayer dollars already pay for federal national parks, instead of shafting private rural land owners, why not run the line through federal land?
FACT: Throughout the USA, state regulators are requiring electric companies to rely LESS on coal because coal is the biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the US. More than ½ of the nation’s electricity is from coal. In WV, 99% of electricity is from coal. The electricity that PATH will provide is NOT even for WV but WV citizens will have to pay for it both physically and financially and we will be forced to give up our land. This is just a way for them to run cheap electricity to three states away rather than have those states pay for their own energy sources.
The destruction will be permanent. Does WV always have to be backward and behind the times? Other states have legislation that protects the people. WV legislation does not protect us, because our Governor does not think for himself and is under the control of big coal. Not only is PATH trying to destroy our nature, they are forcing us to stay in the past and it will result in more pollution, cancer and birth defects. They are trying to turn WV into a cesspool of pollution because we are poor. I think that Allegheny Power and American Electric see the writing on the wall and are trying to secure their future at our expense. Is this another ENRON?
American Electric and Allegheny Power: If you really care about the environment as you claim, I challenge you to reroute your lines or build plants in the states that need it. Can you really be so unintelligent and small minded to deface our state for the sake of others. Why don’t you give WV 10.8 million dollars to not cut down our trees? We can use that money to start moving forward in finding alternative energy sources. Are you planning on offering each property owner millions of dollars? Are your engineers unable to find a different solution? Maybe someone else should have your job. Maybe someone who actually cares.
Leave WV as it is as we try to move forward into the future. How much more do we have to give at our own expense and at the expense of future generations?
Enough of defacing the land, destroying the ecosystems, and the opportunity for us to buy cancer and other diseases at rock bottom prices. It doesn’t have to be on your property to affect you.
Now, for all of you hunters and farmers out there, this next one is for you.
FACT: The practice of clear cutting/bisecting forests results in a phenomenon called fragmentation. When a habitat is fragmented it creates more edge habitat and decreases forest cover. Certain species thrive in each habitat. A bisected clear cut path will increase the population of the white footed mouse. The white footed mouse carries an organism that gives ticks Lyme disease. In addition, the white tail deer will overpopulate. Deer also carry the tick with Lyme disease. Essentially this PATH of destruction is allowing Lyme disease to be more prevalent. Rodents, cowbirds/blackbirds, rabbits and raccoons will also become more numerous. Guess what? The natural predators of the white footed mouse and other rodents, such as hawks and owls, will decline in number due to a decrease in forest cover. Say goodbye to the owl and hawk and hello Lyme disease! Birds such as warblers, cardinals (ironically, our state bird), squirrels (gray and red), chipmunks, bear, and wild turkey will decline as they lose their home to PATH. As for the PATH of destruction, well, at least it provides a nice route for coyotes to follow with easier access to your livestock. Research has shown that coyotes follow "corridors."
You can take a fluorescent bulb and walk near those power lines and it will light up. Anything metal will be a conductor for an electric charge. I would not want to be holding a hunting rifle or shotgun around those lines if I were you.
FACT: PATH will repeatedly use herbicides to keep growth down. Is this Agent Orange round two? So all of your landowners out there, or anyone forced to live near the lines - now YOU too can be exposed to herbicides!
Now that the power companies and PJM Interconnection have decided that "this is necessary," we are now put in a position where we have to prove that they are wrong and defend our land. We need to fight this and prove to the WV Public Service Commission that this is not a necessity, that it is detrimental, and should not be approved in our state. If the PSC approves PATH, it’s a done deal and WV will be permanently scarred. You have to act now in order to stop it or it will be too late and your life and the land will cease to exist as you know it.
I am thoroughly disgusted and outraged that these power companies can just decide to take our land. My family owns land that has been in my family for 200 years. It is truly detestable that after generations of paying taxes and caring for the land, that someone else could decide to tear a path through it, without even giving us consideration, to benefit people that don’t even live here. I have lost faith in the government system. What is the point of paying taxes if you can’t even really truly own your land and it can be taken from you at the whim of big business?
Land has been taken by force before and it is a blight in American History. Some people never learn from past mistakes. Apparently these people are in office. If I am wrong, I sincerely apologize to the people in office and I look forward to watching you join the fight for WV, as I am sure the other citizens of WV will as well.
WV is known for scenic beauty, forest habitat, and recreational hunting. PATH, you are taking away the scenic beauty, forest habitat, recreational hunting and leaving us with severe medical issues. May your souls be condemned like you condemn the land, may you be left with cancer and painful scars, may your spirits be marked in black. May you never wash the mountain blood from your hands.
On this Memorial Day of 2009, I should be honoring those who fought for our land, some of whom were ancestors who lived on the very land now in question. Instead I am writing to those who are trying to destroy it from within.
West Virginia- Are you ready to fight like true Mountaineers or will you allow yourself to be insulted and degraded and brainwashed like always?
Disgusted Citizen,
Rachelle Channell
Organizer
www.PATHLLC.org
This website is owned by People Against Transmission Hell-Lines LLC www.PATHLLC.org