PATH applications withdrawn

COLUMBUS and AKRON, Ohio, February 28, 2011 - American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) and FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) today announced their affiliates will file to withdraw their applications for state regulatory approval of the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline (PATH) project following an announcement by regional grid operator PJM Interconnection that the project has been suspended.

http://www.pathtransmission.com/

Thank you!

It's part of a process that has to be undertaken while FirstEnergy, which aquired Alleghney Energy, re-evaluates the need for the line. Upon completion of the survey, it very well could come back into play.

In truth, what should happen is FirstEnergy should build a power source there instead of bring in power from John Amos but government regulators make it so hard to start new sources that crap like this has to happen.

Aaron,

I oppose PATH for a variety of reasons not the least of which is AEP's most recent request for yet another rate hike. They list the cost of purchasing power from other suppliers as a reason for needing a hike here. This will only drive the price of electricity up in WV.

AEP wasn't the one doing the purchasing, they were selling. At least that's the way I understood it. Am I wrong?

AEP Plans to Apply for Another Increase

It's warming up, but if you think your heating bill is going to start going down, you may want to think again.

Appalachian Power says it's getting ready to apply for another rate increase. It is an annual increase the company applies for through the Public Service Commission.

In the past 18-months there have been three rate increases. The company's president Charles Patton says they don't know the exact cost of the rate increase this time. The company will file for the increase next month.

The application is to cover the increased cost of coal, power the company buys from other plants and environmental improvements.

"It's important to understand that environmental costs continue to increase, also fuel costs, coal prices continue to increase," Patton says. "We're no longer in just a U.S. coal market, we're in a global coal market."

Appalachian power has just completed construction of an environmental control which cost $2 billion. Patton says even though the construction is complete, the cost to customers likely won't go down because there are other factors driving up costs.

If Marcellus Shale brings in an abundance of natural gas shouldn't we gear up for natural gas (zero emissions boilers)? I know that the natural gas will be gone in half a generation but why not use it here and use it now?

ohio county wrote:If Marcellus Shale brings in an abundance of natural gas shouldn't we gear up for natural gas (zero emissions boilers)? I know that the natural gas will be gone in half a generation but why not use it here and use it now?

Because tree huggers will not let us.

They have one of those wells about 3 miles from here on Grandview. My friend Rick's dad has a home literally around the corner from it. That gas well went in and KO's water well started spitting out red sludge. We are all convinced the gas well killed KO's water well.

There are a couple of reasons this isn't making big news. That home has municipal water. He was only using the well on his property across the road for his chickens and ducks and things. In addition, Father Time has taken a toll on KO and due to dementia is has been residing just around the corner with Rick since last summer.

I want them to drill it and use it, but this must be done in a responsible manner and a steady supply of potable water must be guaranteed for surrounding residents.

Is there any evidence that the water was OK prior to the drilling of the gas well?

If it is a Marcellus well ...... then the well casing should extend far below the water table his water well is pulling water from.

They used that water every day for the animals. What else could it have been? Look, I'm not 100% sure, but it is awfully coincidental.

The site where the Marcellus well is located is on much higher ground than KO's well. The gas well site is waayyy up high, and KO's place is down low.

I don't believe they are drilling in the Marcelleous Shale here yet as the drill rates haven't even been set.

Aaron, you are familiar with Grandview, right? Next time you take your bike out head on out there. Coming from Red House Rd, the site is on the left just before Grandview meets 18 Mile Creek. It's large and well marked with all those warning signs, you can't miss it.

There are several clusters of Marcellus zone gas wells in western, southwestern, and northwestern West Virginia, and including in Jackson, Putnam, Roane, Lincoln, and Logan counties.

http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/www/datastat/Marcellus/WV_Marcellus_20101208_8pt5x11.pdf

ohio county wrote:If Marcellus Shale brings in an abundance of natural gas shouldn't we gear up for natural gas (zero emissions boilers)? I know that the natural gas will be gone in half a generation but why not use it here and use it now?

I think we'll be seeing more of that very thing, OC.

BRUCETON MILLS, W.Va. -- Superior Appalachian Pipeline is breaking ground for a 16-mile natural gas project it says will create hundreds of construction jobs and open a new area up to drilling.
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The pipeline will run from just north of Albright to Pennsylvania, where it will link up with a line owned by Columbia Natural Gas. Superior Appalachian Pipeline of Canonsburg, Pa., says that will facilitate moving the gas to other mid-Atlantic states.

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201103010446

I'm very familiar with Grandview Stephanie. I dated a woman out there years ago who claimed gas drilling had ruined her well. I believe that was in 2003.

I'm curious though how they are drilling when Shale rates haven't even been set yet. When the rates go up, will all these existing wells have to pay the higher permit fee?

I don't know, Aaron. All I know is it is there. I'm going to visit Charlotte tomorrow. I'll try to remember to stop and take a few pictures and post them here when I get home.

Are they fracking at that well?

They finished constructing it and all the heavy machinery moved out 2 or 3 weeks ago. Now it just sits there. It seems to me they did some blasting when they were setting it up. It is too far away for me to have firsthand knowlege of this but that is what the people who live within a mile radius have told me.

I found some information on Hydraulic Fracturing. If they haven't dug the well yet, they will 'frac' when they drill it. With an average depth of more then 5,000 feet in the gas wells, the likelyhood of groundwater contamination is, according to what I can gather and based on the constructional requirements of the well, is about in in 200 million. It's really an interesting subject. I'll have to do some more research on the topic.

I still wonder what will happen to the drilling fees if they are raised. Will existing wells have to pay that new rate or are they 'grandfathered' in at the current rates?

Perhaps I have not made myself clear enough. That well is running red clay mud now. I think through the use of explosives they collapsed or otherwise damaged that well. That's what Rick thinks, that's what we all think happened.

I can't find any information on why they would be blasting a natural gas well. I'm no expert so if you've got something, I'd love to see it.

And you said earlier that KO's farm was way down and the gas well was way up.

As I said earlier, drilling into the Marcellous Shell is on average 5,300 feet. That's deeper then the Grand Canyon so I doubt the way up and down distance on Grandview are within those limits.

I'm guessing there may be 150' elevation difference. Perhaps a bit more.

Like I said, this site is a bit away from me.......over 3 miles. You know when you get to the end of Grandview where it meets 18 Mile Creek....if you were to take a right there and go down that hill and over the bridge, KO's house is just on the other side of that bridge, set back and down in an area that's almost like a bowl.

The gas well is immediately before you get to that big barn-like thing on the corner of GV & 18MC. Some of the dirtiest looking cows I've ever seen are kept there. The owners live in that enormous, beautiful brick hom on 18 Mile that faces that hideous old barn thing and those nasty cows. I assume that well is on their property, but maybe not.

There has been a focus on Marcellus shale drilling in West Virginia since about 2006. There are several hundred Marcellus wells in production in WV now.

Stephanie wrote:They finished constructing it and all the heavy machinery moved out 2 or 3 weeks ago. Now it just sits there. It seems to me they did some blasting when they were setting it up. It is too far away for me to have firsthand knowlege of this but that is what the people who live within a mile radius have told me.

The only possible reason for any "blasting" would have been when cutting the roadway into the well site ...... and if so would only have involved breaking up surface rocks that couldn't be moved, broken up or bypassed by those big dozers.

Talking "blasting" in conjunction with drilling gas wells ..... is silly talk ......... because those drilling rigs can "punch" a hole through rock probably five (5) times faster than one can "drill n' shoot it" and then clean the mess up.

And that well will "just sit there" until a pipeline crew shows up to lay the pipe and "hook it into" the closest feeder line.

That well is running red clay mud now.

Sounds to me like their water pump is "stirring up" the water in the bottom of their well. That can be caused by: 1. the pump is too close to the bottom of the well; ..... 2. the well has pretty much gone dry.