MORGANTOWN – Six binders totaling more than 3,000 pages.
That, in physical form, is the NextEra Energy Transmission MidAtlantic application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity currently before the West Virginia Public Service Commission.
And it’s available for public review – in person.
The Monongalia County Commission on Wednesday took receipt of its formidable copy, which was spread across the central table in the body’s meeting chamber.
“I was told that there’s no electronic version. That’s the first question I was going to ask. There are a lot of maps and stuff in there. I was told that there weren’t any electronic versions provided,” Commissioner Sean Sikora said.
The application will be available to the public in each of the four West Virginia counties to be impacted by the 107.5 mile, 500 kilovolt MidAtlantic Resiliency Link transmission line proposed to run from Greene County, Pennsylvania, to Frederick County, Virginia.
In addition to copies held by the county clerks in Monongalia, Preston, Mineral and Hampshire counties, the application will also be available in a number of public libraries, including: Morgantown, Arnettsville, Cheat Area, Clay-Battelle, Clinton District, Kingwood, Terra Alta, Burlington, Fort Ashby, Keyser-Mineral, Piedmont, Capon Bridge and Hampshire County.
The state’s PSC is being asked to authorize the construction, financing, ownership and operation of the West Virginia portion of the MARL project.
About 58.9 miles would cross West Virginia, including 5.9 miles in Monongalia County, 15.8 miles in Preston County, 10.9 miles in Mineral county, and 26.2 miles across Hampshire County.
NextEra’s agreement with PJM Interconnection – the regional grid manager that authorized the proposed project – requires the entire MARL project, including the West Virginia portions, to be in service by Dec. 31, 2031.
NextEra is currently working to accelerate the in-service date to December 2029 or earlier, pending regulatory approvals.
The company is seeking PSC approval of the application within 400 days of the filing date, which was Jan. 30. NextEra is filing similar applications with the corresponding agencies in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.
The project has drawn significant pushback in West Virginia and beyond, prompting resolutions of opposition from county commissions in each of the four named counties. It’s also been the subject of thousands of letters of opposition filed with the WVPSC.
“Speaking as one commissioner, I remain vehemently opposed to the … transmission line coming through West Virginia in any way, shape or form, whether it touches Monongalia County or not,” Commissioner Jeff Arnett said. “I think it’s going to be an overly burdensome tax upon our taxpayers in the sense of all of our utility bills going up and receiving no benefit therefrom.”
