CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County Commission discussed the proposed Valley North 260-mile transmission line with residents during its Thursday meeting.
Valley Link, a collaboration among AEP subsidiary Transource Energy, FirstEnergy Transmission, and Virginia-based Dominion Energy, has hosted 23 open houses throughout the communities that would be affected by the line. The proposal is for the 765-kV (kilovolt) line to begin at the John Amos Power Plant in Putnam County and travel through 20 West Virginia counties to Frederick County, Maryland.
Last week, an open house was held at Sissonville Middle School for community members to ask officials questions about the project.
Kanawha County Commission President Ben Salango thought it would be prudent to discuss the line at the commission meeting.
“We started receiving emails and calls about the Valley Link transmission project, so I thought, ‘might as well put it on the agenda,'” Salango said. “We’re not voting on anything tonight (Thursday); this is a public discussion.”
The hour-and-a-half discussion included a slideshow presentation from Valley North spokesperson Alex Weld.
Weld emphasized that no fixed route has been set for the transmission line. She said route planners are reviewing thousands of comments that people have left.
“Analyzing the feedback that we have collected throughout these 23 open houses,” Weld said. “We come back in November, with a second round of public open houses, with more information, with potential route alternatives; a clear understanding of where routing might happen.”
Weld said Valley Link will likely decide on a route next year.
“In early-to-mid 2027, we have a proposed and alternative route that we will take to the Public Service Commission of West Virginia, as well as those similar entities in Virginia and Maryland to move that process forward,” Weld said. “They are the ultimate deciders on the project.”
Numerous Kanawha County residents shared concerns with the county commissioners after Weld’s presentation. There’s widespread concern about how the transmission line will impact family farms and properties, its impacts on health and the environment, and whether the electricity will actually help West Virginians or mainly data centers in Virginia and Maryland.
Belle resident Eric Caruthers told the commission that he’s contacted officials in 18 of the affected counties.
“I can say, as of today, 12 of those 18 counties have had commissions issue resolutions against this project,” Caruthers said.
He called for the Kanawha County Commission to openly oppose Valley North as well. Another resident said that 14 counties have gotten on board.
Kanawha County Commissioner Natalie Tennant said she wants to review more information before making a decision.
“You’re asking us to go along with the other 14 counties, when I want to vet it a whole lot more,” Tennant said.
Meanwhile, community organizer Jodi Urbanic said she was raised in Calhoun County on a family farm. Now that the line has been proposed, she said she’s concerned about how it will impact the property.
“This is just heartbreaking to me, that this is even proposed to go through my family’s cherished land that we want to keep in the family for generations to come,” Urbanic said. “We want to do a land trust; we want to keep it in our family forever.”
Tennant pointed to House Bill 2014, which relates to data centers, as a severe inhibitor in limiting individual county’s authority to oppose data centers. She said that Virginia could receive hundreds of millions of dollars more than West Virginia.
“Now, you want to take about being taken advantage of (by) Virginia,” Tennant said. “Who voted on that? The legislature did. They continue to pick and chip away at the authority of the county commission and the county authority. And where are they? Are they sitting here, having this good, back-and-forth conversation?”
The legislature created this issue by approving H.B. 2014., Tennant said.
“West Virginia, we got what we asked for, we got what we voted for,” Tennant said. “Maybe not you all, you’re going to say, ‘I didn’t vote, I didn’t vote it!’ Somebody did. And now, here we are.”
Tennant attended the Sissonville open house and still has things on her mind.
“I still had questions that weren’t answered, either,” Tennant said. “That’s the thing; I want to learn more, but we don’t have time to learn more, and it’s like, ‘did everybody learn enough?’ You wouldn’t want us coming in here saying ‘we’re for it’ with the same amount of information, right?”
The county commission didn’t reach a resolution but pledged to continue following Valley North.
“We appreciate everybody coming to speak,” Salango said. “We’ll be paying attention to this as it presses forward. We’ll be watching for PSC notices, we’ll put those out on Facebook.”
Learn more about Valley North here.