ICC OKs Ameren Transmission Line
The Illinois Commerce Commission approved Ameren Transmission’s proposed $1.1 billion 345 kV transmission line across central Illinois.
The 380-mile Illinois Rivers line will run from Quincy to Terre Haute, Ind., with a branch line running north to Ipava. Construction is expected to begin by April 2015 and be completed in 2019.
The commission denied permission to build several new or expanded substations, saying Ameren had failed to prove the need for the facilities.
More: The News-Gazette
Village Officials Urge Rerouting of ComEd Transmission Project
Burlington, Ill., officials urged citizens to oppose Commonwealth Edison’s Prairie Gateway, a proposed 57-mile 345 kV line between the Byron nuclear plant and the Wayne, Ill., substation.
The Burlington village engineer provided officials and residents a briefing on the proposed line last week. “This town needs to make some noise…and encourage ComEd to go around this village,” said Burlington Trustee Mary Kay Wlezen.
Hundreds of people recently attended ComEd open houses on the project in South Elgin and DeKalb. The company is expected to file a request for a certificate of need with the Illinois Commerce Commission by the end of the year.
More: Elgin Courier News, ComEd
NEW JERSEY
Coal Plant Conversion Hinges on Pinelands Pipeline
Plans to convert a 447 MW coal- and oil-fired generator to natural gas hinge on regulators’ approval of a 22-mile gas pipeline through the New Jersey Pinelands. The proposed pipeline, which would run from Millville to Rockland Capital’s BL England electric generation facility near Atlantic City, has won approvals from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the state Board of Public Utilities.
Its final hurdle is the New Jersey Pinelands Commission, which will consider the proposal at its meeting tomorrow. Opponents say they fear the $90 million pipeline will open the protected region to additional infrastructure development.
More: CBS Philly
OHIO
Ohio Regulator, Foe of Coal Industry, says Gov. Forced Resignation
Environmental groups called on Gov. John Kasich last week to allow a top environmental regulator to keep his job. The Ohio Sierra Club, Ohio Environmental Council and other groups say George Elmaraghy should not have to resign from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, where he has served for 39 years.
Elmaraghy, who has headed the agency’s surface-water division since 2005, said that Kasich asked him to resign because of disputes with the coal industry. He said his last day is Sept. 13.
More: The Columbus Dispatch
PENNSYLVANIA
PA, Allegheny County Weigh Drilling in Forests, under Parkland
Opponents of gas drilling delivered more than 12,000 signatures to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett last week calling for public hearings on a proposal to permit gas exploration in Loyalsock State Forest, where Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and another drilling company own the mineral rights to about 19,000 acres.
More: Williamsport Sun-Gazette
Separately, Allegheny County (Pa.) Council is considering whether to allow gas drilling under county parkland. County officials are weighing an offer to extract natural gas under a county park from wellheads outside the park’s borders. The county could receive $40 million to $96 million under the proposal, the Tribune-Review reported. Opponents say the potential revenue is not worth the risk of polluting the parks.
More: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
PUC Considers Fines for Electric Retailers
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission proposed penalties against two retail electric marketers accused of switching customers’ electricity suppliers without their consent.
IDT Energy, which markets power statewide, will pay a $39,000 fine under a proposed settlement that followed a PUC investigation into 21 consumer complaints against one of the company’s independent sales agents. AP Gas & Electric, which sells in FirstEnergy’s territory will pay $43,200 to settle allegations that it engaged in slamming and violated “Do Not Call” rules.
More: The Morning Call, Fierce Energy
Peco to Fast-Track Smart Meter Installations
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approved Peco’s plan to install smart meters for all 1.6 million customers by 2014, five years earlier than originally planned. The plan will cost $282 million but will save $58 million by eliminating the need to maintain two different meter systems until 2019, Peco said.
More: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Groups ask Court to Stop Delaware Water Gap Power Line
Environmental groups last week asked a federal court judge to block PPL Electric Utilities Corp. from starting work on a transmission line through Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The groups asked for an injunction to prevent construction until a lawsuit they filed in December is resolved.
The project is part of the Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line, a 145-mile span being built by PPL and Public Service Electric and Gas between PPL’s Susquehanna nuclear power plant and PSEG’s Roseland substation near Newark, N.J. PPL plans to begin construction in early September on the 4.3-mile section of the line that runs through the park.
More: The Morning Call
VIRGINIA
VA Hearing Examiner Favors James River Transmission Line
A State Corporation Commission hearing examiner recommended that the panel approve Dominion Virginia Power’s proposed 500 kV line over the James River. The examiner concluded the proposed line from the Surry nuclear power plant to Skiffes Creek is the most cost effective option for correcting reliability violations that will begin to occur in 2015 due to the retirement of Dominion’s Yorktown coal-fired generating plant.
The line is opposed by a number of companies and government officials, who contend it would destroy views and harm tourism in the Williamsburg historic region. James City County had asked to move the line downriver or bury it under the river.
More: The Virginia Gazette, Virginia State Corporation Commission
