Pennsylvania renews Transource review

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Witnesses started testifying Thursday in the first of seven scheduled days of evidentiary hearings about Transource Energy’s proposal for new overhead electric transmission lines on two routes in Pennsylvania.

The hearings are being conducted before administrative law judges in Harrisburg.

Testimony will be used by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission as it considers whether to green-light the project.

The first person to offer comment was Allan Stine, a Chambersburg resident who voiced concern about the project’s proximity to a school cross-country trail and Falling Spring Creek.

“It’s a very delicate creek,” he said.

A Herald-Mail Media reporter listened to testimony via teleconference.

The next witnesses answered attorneys’ questions about the cost estimates and formulas used in studies supporting the project. They were asked about what alternate routes were considered.

Transource was hired by PJM Interconnection, which directs the operation of the region’s electrical grid, to construct the project. Estimated to cost about $320 million, it totals 45 miles in the following two sections:

• A 16-mile segment from a new substation in York County, Pa., to a substation in Harford County, Md.

• A 29-mile run from a new substation near Interstate 81 south of Shippensburg, Pa., to the Ringgold substation near Smithsburg, Md.

The Franklin County portion of the proposal would affect roughly 95 land owners. The utility company has proposed installing monopoles on rights-of-way it said would not affect the agricultural uses of many of those properties, although some land owners have strongly disagreed with that assessment in public comments and testimony before various courts.

Of the 29 miles on the “west route” involving Franklin County, 12 miles would parallel existing infrastructure, according to testimony from Barry Baker, of the engineering firm AECOM.

Those designing the project considered two alternative routes before settling on the proposal currently before the Public Utility Commission, Baker said.

A lawyer representing Stop Transource Franklin County, a group opposed to the project, questioned Baker about the 230-kilovolt lines’ proximity to Falling Spring Elementary School. Baker said the lines are about 700 feet from the school in that section and cannot be shifted too much because of the school building and houses nearby.

“As far as natural resources, the proposed route (we chose) would impact the least number,” he said.

PJM Interconnection estimates benefit savings of $866 million and more reliable electric service if the project is developed. Witnesses said the lines could be in service by November 2020.