MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — More than 100 people attended a FirstEnergy open house at Shepherd University’s Wellness Center in Jefferson County last week regarding the Gore, Doubs, Goose Creek Improvement project. That project is 44 mile long using existing rights-of-yay areas in Jefferson County to upgrade electric delivery to a substation in Gore, Va.
Del. Chris Anders, R-Berkeley, was one of the many that stood outside protesting the proposed Mid Atlantic Resiliency Link (MARL), a 105-mile, 500,000-volt transmission line from Pennsylvania to Virginia via several West Counties to provide energy for the growing number of data centers there.
“Not one single person that showed up, not one that showed up at this open house supported this effort,” Anders said on WAJR’s Talk of the Town. “Everyone showed up to oppose it.”
NextEra Energy Transmission was awarded the project by electricity producer PJM through a Request For Proposal (RFP) proposal process forecasting current and future needs across their network. PJM operates the power grid for 13 mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states and the District of Columbia.
Anders said the cost of the project will be passed on to all ratepayers, but the people who lose land or live adjacent will pay an additional price.
“West Virginia is left holding the bag and even if your property doesn’t get taken you still end up with more than $440 million in costs being put on our rates,” Anders said.
MARL is one of two major transmission projects that are on the drawing board. The Regional Transmission Expansion Plan recently approved by the PJM board is valued at $6.7 billion. Part of that proposal is a 765,000-volt transmission line for American Electric Power, Dominion Energy Virginia, and FirstEnergy from Putnam County, West Virginia, to Frederick County, Virginia.
None of the cases have been presented to the state Public Service Commission yet. The prospect of an unelected board making the decision on behalf of a substantial portion of the population of the state is concerning, according to Anders.
“Ruling by fiat, they will make a decision whether or not people lose their property, whether or not their economic liberty is compromised by having to pay for increased electric rates for billionaires in Virginia,” Anders said.
It’s been five years since Virginia passed the Virginia Clean Economy Act that set a time limit with penalties to phase out the use of coal and natural gas. Since that time data centers have migrated to Northern Virginia, as the law has required more renewable energy generation sources that cannot keep pace with growing demand.
“So let’s just go over there and run a large extension cord through the state and take their power so we can continue to collect this big pile of taxes,” Anders said. “So we can continue our spending ways.”
Most lawmakers have been relatively vocal in their opposition to the MARL and Anders hopes the number of lawmakers against the plan increases. He hopes to gain more support when legislators gather for the next special session.
“This will be a real litmus test to see who actually stands up and says no and stands with the people and who is very quiet and doesn’t say a word, just waiting for their campaign coffers to be filled by lobbyists,” he said.