Quincy Twp. joins list of Franklin County groups to question Transource power line project

(Chambersburg) — A local municipality has joined other organizations in questioning a high-voltage transmission line through Franklin County.

Quincy Township supervisors have written to developer Transource and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission asking: Why shouldn’t Transource submit a land development plan to the township and be bonded for its proposed project? The township requires plans and bonds of other developers.

“We think it should be treated the same as every other utility and every other person,” Supervisor Kerry Bumbaugh said.

Transource was established to build two high-voltage transmission lines – one in Franklin County and another through southern York County. The Independence Energy Connection would provide cheaper electricity, mainly to consumers in the Baltimore-Washington metro area.

The Transource line through Franklin County would run 29 miles from Shippensburg to Ringgold, Maryland. Support towers would be 13-stories tall.

Quincy Township is the most recent organization to oppose the project.

The Chambersburg Area school board, Franklin County Area Development Corp., South Mountain Partnership and Franklin County Visitors Bureau do not support the project.

The CASD board on an 8-1 vote urged the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to reject Transource’s application. In a December resolution, the board also said that if the PUC should approve a high-voltage line, the line should be underground. If the PUC should approve an above-ground line, the school district requires the power line to be at least 1,500 feet from the property line of any school.

The school board also worried that the line’s economic impact could hurt the district’s tax revenue.

The $320 million investment does not immediately benefit Franklin County residents or businesses, according to FCADC President L. Michael Ross.

“The benefits are intended to primarily benefit the Washington, D.C., metro area,” Ross wrote to Transource in September. “In doing so, the long-term and far-reaching impacts on the project in Franklin County will curtail future expansion of existing businesses, negatively impact dairy production, and forever change the scenic landscape and view sheds of Franklin County.”

Many farmers have been vocal in opposing the project. The line will require rights-of-way from private property owners.

Transource, a certified utility, has begun surveying on land where properties owners have granted permission. Transource representatives typically give them a call several days in advance, according to Abby Foster, spokeswoman for Transource.

“While receiving voluntary survey permission is Transource’s goal, and representatives will make every effort to work to reach a voluntary agreement with landowners, the company must continue with the next phase of this process,” Foster said. “In cases where Transource is unable to obtain survey permission, as a public utility, Transource could find it necessary to pursue legal remedies.”

Pennsylvania law allows a utility to enter land to study, survey, test and make appraisals with 10 days notice. If a landowner refuses access, the utility can ask the county court to order access to the property.

StopTransource, a grassroots organization, has urged people to write letters to the PUC in opposition to the transmission line. Volunteers will help members of the community from 5 to 8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 5, at the Falling Springs Elementary School, 1006 Falling Spring Road, Chambersburg.

All public comment about the Franklin County line must include the docket number A-2017-2640200 and submitted to the PUC by Feb. 20. The York County line is under A-2017-2640195.

Transource must address impacts on the environment, land use and scenic, historic and archeological. The utility also must include the affect on landowners and safety as well as the need for the line.

The PUC and Maryland Public Service Commission are beginning their regulatory reviews of the project. Prehearing conferences are set this winter. A prehearing conference sets the procedure for a case, a hearing schedule and a list of formal parties in the case.

The PUC will hold a prehearing conference at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 13, in Hearing Room 4 of the PUC, Commonwealth Keystone Building, 400 North Street, Harrisburg. The PSC will hold a prehearing about Case No. 9471 at 1 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 16, in the 16th floor hearing room of the PSC, William Donald Schaefer Tower, 6 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, Md.

PJM Interconnect, which manages the electrical grid in 13 Mid-Atlantic states, contracted Transource to do the project. Transource is a partnership between American Electric Power and Great Plains Energy.

PJM expects the project to save ratepayers $622 million in 15 years. Dominion Energy, Baltimore Gas and Electric and PEPCO will pay for more than three-fourths of the project.