Another stumble for PATH?

by: blonde moment

Mon Oct 19, 2009 at 16:55:07 PM EDT

Well, well, well ...

It seems that PATH (the Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline) is not exactly experiencing a smooth road to approval.

The staff of the Virginia State Corporation Commission, counterpart to our own Public Service Commission, filed a motion today to dismiss the PATH application, because:

[T]here now exists such a level of uncertainty as to the termination point of the PATH Project that the Staff cannot discharge its duty to analyze the application and to advise the Commission on whether the project should be approved and, if approved, where it should be routed.

What could possibly have caused such a roadblock? The rejection of the PATH application by the Maryland Public Service Commission in early September, followed by PATH's failure to re-file the application - or at least make its intentions known - within 30 days.

The staff motion points out that the SCC is spending scarce resources trying to process the application, that Frederick and Loudoun counties are spending scarce resources preparing for hearings, and that citizens are spending scarce resources trying to fight it. In other words, lots of money on something that's becoming more uncertain by the day.

Now let's see if our own PSC staff will take any action.