PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OF WEST VIRGINIA CHARLESTON * * * * * * * * * PATH WEST VIRGINIA TRANSMISSION * COMPANY, LLC; PATH ALLEGHENY * TRANSMISSION COMPANY, LLC; * 09-0770-E-CN PATH-WV LAND ACQUISITION * COMPANY; and PATH-ALLEGHENY * LAND ACQUISITION COMPANY * * * * * * * * * * HEARING TRANSCRIPT * * * * * * * * * BEFORE: MICHAEL A. ALBERT, Chairman JON MCKINNEY, Commissioner EDWARD H. STAATS, Commissioner HEARING: September 28, 2009 6:30 p.m. LOCATION: Days Hotel & Conference Center in Flatwoods 2000 Sutton Lane I-79, Exit 67 Sutton WV 26601 Reporter: Michael Mundy Any reproduction of this transcript is prohibited without authorization by the certifying agency.

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1 A P P E A R A N C E S 2 3 CHRISTOPHER L. HOWARD, STAFF ATTORNEY 4 State of West Virginia Public Service Commission 5 201 Brooks Street 6 P.O. Box 612 7 Charleston, WV 25323 8 Counsel for the Public Service Commission 9 10 DAVID A. SADE, ESQUIRE 11 Consumer Advocate Division 12 700 Union Building 13 723 Kanawha Boulevard East 14 Charleston, WV 25301 15 Counsel for the Consumer Advocate Division 16 17 CHRISTOPHER L. CALLAS, ESQUIRE 18 Jackson Kelly 19 1600 Laidley Tower 20 P.O. Box 553 21 Charleston, WV 25322 22 Counsel for Applicant 23 24 25

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1 INDEX TO WITNESSES 2 3 INTRODUCTION 4 By Chairman Albert 6 - 17 5 STATEMENT 6 By Gwendolin Carr 17 - 18 7 STATEMENT 8 By Mark English 19 - 24 9 STATEMENT 10 By J.L. Campbell 24 - 26 11 STATEMENT 12 By Tom Degen 26 - 28 13 STATEMENT 14 By John Buckheimer 28 - 29 15 STATEMENT 16 By Shadrach Ross 29 - 40 17 STATEMENT 18 By Judith Jennen 41 - 43 19 STATEMENT 20 By Tim Urbanic 43 - 45 21 STATEMENT 22 By Karin Gateless 46 23 STATEMENT 24 By William Dobbins 46 - 49 25

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1 INDEX TO WITNESSES (cont.) 2 3 STATEMENT 4 By David Corson 49 5 STATEMENT 6 By Joyce Harris-Thacker 49 - 52 7 STATEMENT 8 By David Carr 52 9 STATEMENT 10 By Patty Salisbury 52 - 53 11 STATEMENT 12 By Barb Buckheimer 54 13 STATEMENT 14 By Deanna English 54 - 61 15 DISCUSSION AMONG PARTIES 61 - 64 16 STATEMENT 17 By Shelly Facemire 64 - 65 18 STATEMENT 19 By Faith Ann Jenkins 66 - 69 20 CERTIFICATE 70 21 22 23 24 25

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1 E X H I B I T S 2 3 Page 4 Number Description Offered 5 NONE OFFERED 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ------3 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 4 Good evening. This is a public comment 5 hearing in PSC Case Number 09-0770-E-CN that was filed by 6 PATH West Virginia Transmission Company, LLC; PATH 7 Allegheny Transmission Company, LLC; PATH-West Virginia 8 Land Acquisition Company; and PATH-Allegheny Land 9 Acquisition Company. 10 The joint application that those 11 companies filed is for what is called a Certificate of 12 Convenience and Necessity that they must obtain from the 13 Public Service Commission of West Virginia in order to 14 construct and operate a 765-kV electric transmission line 15 and related facilities in 14 counties of West Virginia, 16 beginning roughly in the Putnam/Kanawha area and running 17 up through the eastern panhandle. 18 These hearings this evening are --- we 19 had one this afternoon and we have this one this evening 20 --- are two in a series of 14 or 15 hearings that we are 21 having. The hearings will be to take public comment. 22 The --- I would ask that --- that reminds me of something 23 I meant to ask, and that is if you have a cell phone or 24 if you have a pager, please put it on silent mode or 25 vibrate or even better, turn it off. If there’s

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1 something that you need to do, please just go outside and 2 do it with your cell phone. Send messages or take 3 messages ‘til your heart’s content. 4 With me today --- I’m Mike Albert. I’m 5 Chairman of the Commission. With me, on my left, is Ed 6 Staats, who’s a Commissioner of the Commission. And Jon 7 McKinney is on my right. And he is also a Commissioner 8 of the Public Service Commission. 9 There are numerous parties in the case. 10 There are the Applicants, who filed the application that 11 I mentioned; the Commission Staff, who we’ll hear from in 12 just a second; the Consumer Advocate Division. The Trade 13 Council for the labor unions through their attorney, 14 Vince Trivelli, has petitioned to intervene and been 15 granted intervenor status. In addition, there are about 16 250 other individuals or groups who have been granted 17 intervenor status in this proceeding. Now, the hearing 18 tonight, the comment hearing tonight is not for any of 19 those people. The comment hearing tonight is for those 20 people who are here to either give us protests or 21 statements in support of the application and let us know 22 how you feel. We are --- this series of hearings that we 23 are undertaking is to get out and get a sense of what 24 people think of this project. 25 As I indicated, the parties of the

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1 proceeding, the ones that I named, are not being asked to 2 participate in the proceeding tonight and will not be 3 allowed to make statements. They have their opportunity 4 to file testimony in the case, to participate fully in 5 the proceedings. And that’s their role. That’s the role 6 that they’ve elected to take. Tonight is for the 7 protestants. 8 I mentioned earlier to the group --- 9 and it went very well, I thought --- that while this may 10 not look like a courtroom, to us it is. When we are here 11 in this capacity, we’re acting in what’s called a quasi- 12 judicial capacity. And that is that we’re acting as a 13 judge, a trier of fact and law, for purposes of this 14 case. In that regard, we take our duty seriously. And 15 we expect decorum. We haven’t had a single problem, and 16 I think that is a tribute to the audiences that we’ve 17 had. 18 One of the problems is that we have a 19 young man back here who is sitting with a mask up to his 20 face. What he is doing is recording everything that I 21 say and everything that you say as a protestant when you 22 come up to the microphone. So he has a tough job. He 23 has to listen to what I say, identify that it’s me that’s 24 saying it. Then when you speak, he has to identify you 25 and repeat everything that you say. He literally repeats

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1 every word that is said. So one, you have to speak up. 2 Two, he can only physically repeat one person at a time. 3 He’s good, but he’s not to where he can do two people at 4 once. So only one of us can talk. And when you’re 5 talking, I’ll be quiet. When I’m talking, we’ll ask you 6 to be quiet. 7 There’s one other thing that we have 8 asked, and it’s been observed quite well. And that is 9 that we know everybody feels strongly about this 10 proceeding, but cheering, applause, booing, jeering, just 11 audience comments, don’t add anything to the proceedings. 12 Remember, you wouldn’t do that in the court, and we don’t 13 expect you to do it here. We haven’t had a problem with 14 it, and we don’t expect any of it tonight. One of the 15 things it does is, like in the hearing, it makes it 16 difficult for the --- the comment hearing, it makes it 17 difficult for the court reporter to take it down, and it 18 really doesn’t add anything to the mix of information. 19 We’re not judging this on the basis of applause or 20 judging this on the basis of who feels the strongest 21 about it. We’re here to hear your comments. And 22 following this, we will have additional public comment 23 hearings around --- all through these various counties. 24 And then we will be having hearings back in Charleston, 25 at which --- actually scheduled for 14 days --- in which

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1 time all the witnesses and all the intervenors will be 2 given the opportunity to put their testimony up. 3 Because of the large number of 4 witnesses --- protestants, excuse me, or supporters, as 5 the case may be, we ask that you kind of limit your time. 6 We have been asking that people try to stay within four 7 or five minutes. Now, that may not seem like a lot, but 8 it’s enough for you to give us your thoughts on what your 9 belief is with respect to this project. We don’t have a 10 hook or you know, the mat’s not wired with electricity or 11 something. If you go over by a couple minutes, we’re not 12 going to say anything. But we do ask, as a courtesy to 13 others, that you finish within a reasonable period of 14 time and let as many people as possible go ahead and make 15 their statements as well. 16 We’ll ask that --- rather than having 17 sign-up sheets and that, all I’m going to do is ask who 18 wants to speak. When you raise your hand, I’ll 19 acknowledge you, and you come up to the microphone and 20 speak. We will ask that you speak into the microphone. 21 As I said, start by identifying yourself and by spelling 22 your last name. That’s important so that we can keep 23 track of who’s been here. 24 As I said, anybody that’s not an 25 intervenor or a party to the proceeding who wants to

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1 speak will be allowed to do so. You know, don’t feel 2 like you have to speak. If you’re shy or embarrassed and 3 you don’t want to, that’s okay. It’s not a problem. And 4 it doesn’t --- if all you’ve got to say is what somebody 5 else said and you think they said it in a satisfactory 6 manner, you may elect not to. As I said, we’re not 7 counting the number that go one way, weighing it against 8 the number that go the other. 9 At this time, I’m going to allow the 10 Staff, the CAD and the Counsel for the Applicants to 11 identify themselves, tell you a little bit about their 12 role, and then we’ll begin with the public comments. 13 Staff Counsel?

14 ATTORNEY HOWARD : 15 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is 16 Christopher Howard. I am Staff Counsel for the Staff of 17 the West Virginia Public Service Commission. Along with 18 me over here is Wayne Perdue of the Commission’s 19 Engineering Division, who is also involved in the case on 20 behalf of the Staff. 21 The role of the Staff of the Public 22 Service Commission in this matter is we will act as a 23 party in the case as well. We are currently conducting 24 our case in terms of --- we have hired experts to review 25 the project, to make recommendations to us. We conduct

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1 discoveries just like any other party does. We have 2 witnesses just like any other party does. We’ll 3 participate in the hearing in February in terms of the 4 evidentiary hearing. And from our investigation and our 5 review, Staff will make a nonbinding recommendation to 6 the Commission to which they will take the weight of that 7 and make their decision based on what Staff recommends to 8 the Commission as well. And again, we would act just 9 like any other party to the case. We will have 10 witnesses. We’ll have evidence conducting. We’ll cross 11 examine at the hearing. We act more as an independent 12 party to the case and make a separate recommendation 13 apart from the Applicant, the CAD and intervenors. And 14 that’s the role of Staff, Mr. Chairman.

15 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 16 Thank you, Mr. Howard. Mr. Sade? Mr. 17 Sade is Counsel for the Consumer Advocate Division. 18 Byron Harris is also here. 19 ATTORNEY SADE : 20 Again, with your permission. My name 21 is David Sade. I’m an attorney with the Consumer 22 Advocate Division of the Public Service Commission. We 23 were created by the legislature as a separate and 24 independent division of the Public Service Commission, 25 assigned the task of representing the interests, as a

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1 class, of the group of residential ratepayers in 2 proceedings such as this. We participate as a party in 3 the case, and we will be participating in all proceedings 4 up to and including the hearing that’s going to be held 5 in Charleston later during the winter. 6 We will stay around after everyone is 7 done with their comments to provide any answers that we 8 can to questions that you may have about PATH or how this 9 process works and answer any other questions that you may 10 have about what’s going on with the application that’s 11 been filed in this project. Thanks for coming out.

12 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 13 Mr. Callas? 14 ATTORNEY CALLAS : 15 Thank you, Your Honor. My name is 16 Chris Callas. I’m with the law firm of Jackson Kelly in 17 Charleston. With me tonight is my colleague, Randall 18 Palmer, with the Allegheny Energy Legal Department. 19 Together, we have assisted the Applicants in this case in 20 the preparation and filing of their application, and we 21 will assist as prosecution through the evidentiary 22 hearing, as you mentioned, in the winter. Thank you. 23 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 24 Thank you. With that --- yes, sir? 25 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER :

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1 Your Honor, I’d like to ask a favor of 2 you, and that is that since you’ve identified your Staff 3 and some of the Counsel here, that each one of these 4 proceedings, that you also ask the number of intervenors 5 that are in each group to just raise their hands and 6 identify themselves so we can be aware of the number of 7 intervenors that are here. And then separately from 8 that, if you could just ask the members of the press that 9 are here to raise their hand, if that isn’t a problem for 10 you.

11 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 12 I don’t mind having the intervenors 13 stand and raise their hand or whatever. I don’t want to 14 go around and ask every intervenor to identify 15 themselves. There is a list. It’s available on the 16 Commission’s Website. The service list of all 17 intervenors is listed. In fact, I don’t think there’s 18 any sanctity to that list, and we can provide a copy of 19 it. 20 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER : 21 I’m aware of that. But I think that 22 for the proceedings, since you introduced your group and 23 the Counsels, I don’t think it would hurt just to have 24 them raise their hands. 25 CHAIRMAN ALBERT :

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1 Okay. I’ll tell you what. We’ll --- 2 I’m not adverse to that at all. All people who have 3 petitioned to intervene in the proceeding and been 4 granted intervenor status, would you please stand? 5 INTERVENORS STAND 6 MR. HIGGINS : 7 Okay. I’ll start. My name is Tim 8 Higgins. I’m from Upshur County.

9 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 10 That’s fine, Tim. Thank you. 11 Appreciate you attending. We’re not going to go around 12 and ask everyone of them. As I said, the list is 13 available. And I’m not trying to be flippant. I’m just 14 trying to get through --- we’ve got a long --- these 15 hearings take a long time as they are. Yes, ma’am? 16 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER : 17 I became an intervenor on the last 18 possible day at four o’clock when I heard about the PATH 19 coming through this area as an act of God. So my letter 20 was like that, just to get in. And I would wonder why 21 intervenors are not allowed to speak when we have no 22 actual contact with the attorneys or anything of that 23 nature.

24 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 25 Well, there are a number of reasons why

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1 you’re not allowed to speak. First of all, not all the 2 parties are here, and you are a party. And by speaking, 3 in essence, you’re having what is called ex parte 4 discussions with the Commission. It may sound silly, but 5 there are other parties who are entitled to know what 6 parties give by way of information to the Commission. 7 That’s why when you submit matters and send them to the 8 Commission, you’re required to provide it to all the 9 parties. So we’re not allowing intervenors who have been 10 granted full party status in this proceeding to address 11 us. It’s just not the way it’s done. You wouldn’t want 12 us to get Allegheny out in the hallway and talk with them 13 about the case any more than ---. You are a full party 14 to the proceeding, so that’s why it’s not permitted. 15 Plus, you are permitted and will be allowed to provide 16 testimony on your own at the hearing. Protestants do 17 not --- they are entitled to make their statement either 18 in opposition or in support of the proceeding. 19 Now, the other question that was asked 20 is are there any members of the press here? You might 21 stand up and identify yourself, sir.

22 MR. WARD: 23 My name’s Ken Ward. I’m from the

24 Charleston Gazette . 25 CHAIRMAN ALBERT :

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1 Thank you, Mr. Ward. All right. Now, 2 is there anybody who wants to start and be the first 3 person to make a statement? Yes, ma’am? 4 MS. CARR : 5 Hi. I’m Gwendolin, G-W-E-N-D-O-L-I-N, 6 Gwendolin Carr, C-A-R-R. 7 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 8 Ms. Carr, pull the mic up just a little 9 bit, if you could.

10 MS. CARR : 11 I’m from Wilsie. It’s out Rosedale 12 Road in Braxton County. And I would like to know that 13 --- at one time they said it was 250 feet. At one time 14 they said it was 260 feet. Now I don’t know what it is, 15 but my house is right in the middle of that 260 --- 360 16 feet away from it. My son has MS. My husband has heart 17 trouble. And it’s --- you now, I’m concerned about his 18 health. Okay. That’s the biggie there. But the most of 19 it is that I would like to know, would you want your 20 children or your family living next to this power line? 21 And I would like an answer. 22 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 23 We don’t answer questions. We are here 24 to hear the public’s statements, and if we start trying 25 to respond to all the questions, we don’t know all the

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1 answers. We haven’t had all the testimony put before us. 2 We haven’t had Cross Examination. And we’re not prepared 3 to offer statements on the merits of the proceeding. 4 MS. CARR : 5 Okay. But ---. 6 MS. CARR : 7 And I’m not in a position to sit and 8 argue. I understand ---.

9 MS. CARR : 10 I’m not arguing. I’m asking ---. 11 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 12 But I’m not going to answer any more 13 questions. 14 MS. CARR : 15 That’s fine. I’m just going to make a 16 statement. 17 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 18 All right. 19 MS. CARR : 20 If you can actually put this line 21 through and feel good about yourself and your God and 22 make people be sick and stuff, then God help you. 23 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 24 Thank you, ma’am. I appreciate your 25 comments. Yes, sir?

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1 MR. ENGLISH : 2 Mark English. I live in Chloe, West 3 Virginia. And I don’t think it’s quite going through my 4 property, but it’s close enough. I don’t know if you all 5 are familiar with the Scriptures or not, but here’s an 6 interesting story. 7 And it came to be, that after these 8 events, that Naboth, the Israelite, had a vineyard which 9 was in Israel, near the palace of Ahab, the sovereign of 10 Shomeron. 11 And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, give 12 me your vineyard, and it shall be a vegetable garden for 13 me, since it adjoins my house. And let me give you a 14 better vineyard for it. If it is good in your eyes, let 15 me give you its worth in silver. 16 And Naboth said to Ahab, far be it from 17 me, by Yahweh, that I should give the inheritance of my 18 fathers to you! 19 And Ahab went into his house embittered 20 and displeased because of the word which Naboth the 21 Israelite had spoken to him when he said, I do not give 22 you the inheritance of my fathers. And he lay down on 23 his bed, and turned away his face, and did not eat food. 24 And Izebel his wife came to him, and 25 said to him, why is your spirit so embittered that you

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1 are not eating food? 2 And he said to her, because I spoke to 3 Naboth the Israelite, and said to him, give me your 4 vineyard for silver, or if you prefer, I give you another 5 vineyard for it. But he answered, I do not give you my 6 vineyard. 7 So Izebel his wife said to him, do you 8 now rule over Israel? Rise up, eat food, and let your 9 heart be glad. Let me give you the vineyard of Naboth 10 the Israelite. 11 Then she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, 12 and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to 13 the elders and the nobles who were dwelling in the city 14 with Naboth. 15 And she wrote in the letters, saying, 16 proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the 17 people, 18 and seat two men, sons of Beliyal’al 19 before him to bear witness against him, saying, you have 20 blasphemed Elohim and the sovereign. Then you shall take 21 him out and stone him to death. 22 And the men of the city, the elders and 23 nobles who were inhabitants of his city, did as Izebel 24 had sent to them, as it was written in the letters which 25 she had sent to them.

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1 They proclaimed a fast, and seated 2 Naboth at the head of the people. 3 And the men, sons of Beliya’al, came in 4 and sat before him. And the men of Beliya’al witnessed 5 against him, against Naboth, in the presence of the 6 people, saying, Naboth has blasphemed Elohim and the 7 sovereign! So they took him outside the city and stoned 8 him with stones, and he died. 9 And they sent to Izebel, saying, Naboth 10 has been stoned and is dead. 11 And it came to be, when Izebel heard 12 that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, that Izebel 13 said to Ahab, arise, take possession of the vineyard of 14 Naboth the Israelite, which he refused to give you for 15 money, for Naboth is not alive but dead. 16 And it came to be, when Ahab heard that 17 Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose to go down to take 18 possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Israelite. 19 And the word of Yahweh came to Eliyahu, 20 the Tishbite, saying, 21 Rise up, go down to meet Ahab sovereign 22 of Israel, who lives in Shomeron. See, he is in the 23 vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take 24 possession of it. 25 And you shall speak to him, saying,

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1 thus said Yahweh, have you murdered and also taken 2 possession? And you shall speak to him, saying, thus 3 said Yahweh, in the place where dogs licked the blood of 4 Naboth, the dogs are going to lick your blood, even 5 yours. 6 And Ahab said to Eliyahu, have you 7 found me, O my enemy? And he answered, I have found you, 8 because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of 9 Yahweh. 10 See, I am bringing evil on you, and 11 shall consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab 12 every male in Israel, both those shut up and those left 13 at large, 14 and make your house like the house of 15 Yarob’am son of Nebat, and like the house of Ba’asha, son 16 of Ahiyah, because of the provocation with which you have 17 provoked Me, and made Israel sin. 18 And also of Izebel Yahweh has spoken, 19 saying, the dogs are going to eat Izebel by the wall of 20 Israel. 21 The dogs are going to eat whoever 22 belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the birds of 23 the heavens are going to eat whoever dies in the field. 24 Indeed, there never was anyone like 25 Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh,

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1 because Izebel, his wife, stirred him up. 2 And he acted very abominably in 3 following idols, according to all that the Amorites shad 4 done, whom Yahweh disposed from before the children of 5 Israel. 6 And it came to be, when Ahab heard 7 these words, that he tore his garments and put sackcloth 8 on his body, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went 9 softly. 10 And the word of Yahweh came to Eliyahu 11 the Tishbite, saying, 12 See how Ahab has humbled himself before 13 Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I do not 14 bring the evil in his days, but in the days of his son I 15 bring the evil on his house. 16 I think we all need to be a little 17 humble here.

18 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 19 Mr. English? 20 MR. ENGLISH : 21 Yes, sir. 22 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 23 I will bet that our court reporter 24 didn’t get all that down. And if you have a copy of 25 that, it would be very helpful to him if you would

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1 provide him with a copy of it because he has to 2 transcribe what you said. Could you do that? 3 MR. ENGLISH : 4 Book of James, Chapter 21. I can get 5 you a copy. 6 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 7 Thank you. All right. Who else? Yes, 8 sir?

9 MR. CAMPBELL : 10 My name is J.L. Campbell. I’m the 11 Mayor of Sutton. And while I’m not here as an elected 12 official, I’m here speaking for likeminded constituents 13 of Sutton. 14 We enjoy a quality of life here in 15 Braxton County that, bar none, is some of the best in the 16 State. We have our problems just like everybody else, 17 but we have great school systems. We have a lot of 18 recreational opportunities that are afforded us by our 19 location and the dams and the public hunting and fishing 20 areas. While we’re not opposed to jobs --- and I know a 21 great portion of Braxton County residents that travel 22 outside the county each and every day in order to earn 23 their income and their livelihood --- the benefits to 24 county residents that will be realized from this line 25 going through seem minimal compared to the cost that

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1 they’re going to pay. There will be a lot of discussion 2 on either side of the argument about the benefits and 3 what it will do to the property and property owners. And 4 I’m no expert on any of those items, but I know enough to 5 know that when this power line goes through, it will 6 create a situation that we didn’t have before. And if 7 people feel that this is not something they want in their 8 backyards, then they need to get in front of you now 9 because once it’s up, it’s not going to be something that 10 we can take back. 11 We’re for coal here. I have a lot of 12 friends in the coal business. And from what I read, this 13 is one of the benefits for putting this line through, 14 that it will help sell more West Virginia coal. And 15 we’re all for that. But with the line coming through the 16 majority of West Virginia --- and I also read where the 17 State of Maryland was already denied your Certificate of 18 Need for this line. Now, I understand that’s a 19 technicality because the Certificate’s only issued to 20 power companies. That’s indicative of what’s to be faced 21 here in West Virginia. And Braxton County is the people 22 that came to me and asked me to come up here and speak 23 this evening. They’re very concerned. They might not 24 all live under the line’s path, but they’ll all be 25 affected by the results of your decisions. Thank you.

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1 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 2 Thank you, Mayor. 3 MR. DEGEN : 4 Hello. My name is Tom Degen, 5 D-E-G-E-N, and I live in Calhoun County. Before I start, 6 whoever is in charge of the sound system, if you can turn 7 it up a little bit. I’m having trouble hearing some of 8 these excellent comments. 9 I’m here to express my opinion that 10 there is no need for the PATH transmission line. We, as 11 a society, need to combat global warming, conserve energy 12 and promote green jobs. PATH does none of those things. 13 PATH is a 50-year investment in coal- 14 based electrical power. The John Amos Power Station is 15 the source of much of that power to be transmitted along 16 PATH. This power plant is one of the most polluting 17 power plants in the United States. It has had three 18 major releases of sulfuric acid clouds in the past year. 19 More electricity produced in West Virginia means more 20 mountaintop removal coal mining, which is devastating our 21 landscape, our watersheds and our communities. 22 Our country needs to invest in the 23 future, not the past. That means creating a new 24 technology for our electrical grid based on widely 25 distributed, smaller scale generating sources.

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1 Other states are initiating projects 2 that would develop power locally and from renewable 3 resources. The North Carolina Utilities Commission has 4 approved a plan whereby Duke Energy will install mini 5 solar power plants on rooftops and grounds in the 6 Charlotte area. 7 A coastal region running from 8 Massachusetts to North Carolina, called the Mid-Atlantic 9 Bight, contains up to 330,000 megawatts of average 10 electrical capacity available from wind. This is more 11 energy than the entire mid-Atlantic coast’s demand. 12 Delaware’s coastal winds alone are capable of producing 13 over four times the average electrical consumption of 14 that state. 15 It shouldn’t surprise us, then, to 16 learn that the Long Island Power Authority and 17 Consolidated Edison, Incorporated are planning to develop 18 an offshore wind farm or that Delaware is going ahead 19 with plans for an offshore wind farm. 20 The governors of Massachusetts, Rhode 21 Island, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New 22 Jersey, New York, Vermont and Virginia have written 23 Congressional leaders saying that PATH-type, land-based 24 transmission lines would hinder their efforts to meet 25 renewable energy goals with regional resources and would

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1 impede development of the vast wind resources onshore and 2 offshore for decades to come. They also noted that local 3 generation is more responsive and effective in solving 4 reliability issues than long distance energy inputs. 5 Furthermore, if we consider national 6 security issues, huge transmission lines like PATH 7 concentrate too much power in one relatively easy target. 8 If we are really going to look 9 seriously at what America needs, it doesn’t take long to 10 realize that we need to not have transmission lines like 11 PATH that lock us into obsolete, dirty technologies that 12 do not promote conservation or innovation and put our 13 energy security at risk. Thank you.

14 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 15 Thank you, sir. Anybody over here? 16 MR. BUCKHEIMER : 17 Hi. My name is John Buckheimer. 18 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 19 John. I’m not sure that that mic is 20 on. Why don’t you come to this one? 21 MR. BUCKHEIMER : 22 Hi. My name is John Buckheimer. 23 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 24 Hi, John. 25 MR. BUCKHEIMER :

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1 And I’m from Falls Mill, West Virginia. 2 I have no objection to transmitting power. I do object 3 to the way it’s being done. And I would like to see some 4 compromise made on not transmitting all on one major 5 power line for reasons the other gentleman was stating. 6 But I do know one thing. I know that this is going 7 to --- in the long run, this is going to be economically 8 devastating, as well as environmentally devastating, to 9 the State of West Virginia and to the county that I live 10 in. And once these lines are up, there’s no way of 11 taking them out. And it’s a very unfortunate thing. I 12 have a lot more to say, but I’ll let somebody else say 13 it. Thank you very much.

14 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 15 Thank you, sir. 16 MR. ROSS : 17 Good evening. My name is Shadrach 18 Ross, S-H-A-D-R-A-C-H, Ross, R-O-S-S. I live in Calhoun 19 County. I’m 19 years, and that is related to my first 20 objection because I’m planning to settle in this State. I 21 like its peace, its solitude, its friendly and 22 resourceful people and its natural beauty. My hope is to 23 purchase land close to my parents, but with the PATH 24 planned to go through only two miles away, it will 25 greatly affect my options. Land that is in close

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1 proximity will drop in value, and land further away will 2 increase in value. I’m not in the position to afford 3 higher-priced land, which would further limit my options 4 to properties closer to the power lines. 5 Why would I not want to buy property 6 close to the PATH? Well, to start off, if the PATH goes 7 across one’s property, it will take at least a 200-foot 8 swath right out. To put this into perspective, when you 9 go to a parking lot, count out a line of 22 spaces. That 10 will be close to the width of the right-of-way. Now, 11 imagine a 22 car-wide parking lot stretching across your 12 property, through the woods, where you’d normally take a 13 nature hike, for instance, past your house and up over 14 the hill. How would it look? To add insult to injury, 15 even if the line goes across your property for just 400 16 feet, the right-of-way would take up two acres. For 17 every 200-foot right-of-way, it’s an acre. And that is 18 not including the towers that may be on your property. 19 These towers are going to need three acres of land 20 cleared to install and maintain them. Go back to the 21 parking lot. Now, count 40 spaces. You’ll need to find 22 a big parking lot. That is one side of a three-acre 23 square. 24 There is also the issue of eminent 25 domain, where they will claim that your property is

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1 needed for the public good, and then they’ll take it and 2 pay you a fraction of what your property is worth. I 3 wonder how something like this can be for the public good 4 when nobody wants it. 5 It’s not just the amount of land being 6 taken up by the PATH, it’s also, literally, a path. 7 Every one of these towers needs an access road. If your 8 property is adjacent to a main road and a tower is closer 9 to the road than it is to your entrance, it will be more 10 convenient for the access road to lead from the main road 11 to the tower rather than going by your house. This, I 12 feel, would be a major security concern. I wouldn’t want 13 a trespasser, thieves, poachers, meth labs, et cetera, to 14 have a nice clear backdoor road onto my property. 15 With a 200-foot highway, coyotes and 16 wild dogs will find it easier to cover more territory, 17 thus threatening more livestock. And it will make it 18 easier for deer to travel, allowing wasting disease and 19 other diseases to spread further. 20 I’m also concerned about safety issues. 21 The metal towers are going to be about 130 feet tall, 14- 22 and-a-half parking spaces. They will be ideal targets 23 for lightning. Several years ago an ice storm knocked 24 out power in large areas of this State. I would not feel 25 safe being close to a 765,000-volt line during an ice

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1 storm. 2 These are intermittent safety concerns. 3 A constant safety concern of mine would be the EMF, 4 electromagnetic fields. The PATH Frequently Asked 5 Questions Website says that EMFs come from anything 6 electrical. A lamp, a toaster, everything electrical 7 gives off this type of radiation. However, the amount of 8 EMFs that something gives off, that is a different 9 matter. There is a debate as to if EMFs are a threat to 10 one’s health. I’m inclined to think that it would be 11 unhealthy, but I’ll quote from PATH’s own Web page to 12 explain my reasonings. 13 Quote, question number 18, how much 14 noise will the line make? Will I be able to hear it? 15 Then the answer to the question: 765-kilovolt lines may 16 produce some induction effects, such as small spark 17 discharges from metal objects that may be in or near the 18 right-of-way, end quote. 19 This is from their own Website. I 20 shouldn’t have to worry about the truthfulness of this 21 report, should I? All right. I take that back. But 22 they shouldn’t dispute it if it’s cited from their own 23 Web page. Anyway, I believe that if the EMFs are strong 24 enough to create small sparks on metal objects on or near 25 the right-of-way, I should be worried about being close

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1 to that much stray energy. Shouldn’t you? How small are 2 these sparks? Are they barely visible? Or are they like 3 strong static electricity? How large of a metal object 4 does it take to be shocked by? The towers themselves? A 5 car? A pair of glasses? Metal fillings in people’s 6 teeth? A belt buckle? I don’t like that idea at all. 7 And how close is near to the right-of-way? A few feet? 8 A few yards? A couple hundred feet? When they say that 9 the right-of-way may still be used for things such as 10 farming and grazing cattle, I wonder how modern tractors 11 and farm trucks with their electronics may be affected by 12 small sparks. One would definitely want to know how 13 close near is before refueling a tractor. 14 Another quote from PATH’s Website: 15 Question number 20, will the line affect my pacemaker? 16 High-voltage transmission lines have not been reported to 17 cause interference with pacemaker function. In theory, 18 such interference could be possible, depending on the 19 pacemaker’s design and a person’s orientation beneath the 20 line. Pacemaker manufacturers have designed their 21 devices to minimize potential interference from external 22 sources, including power-line EMF, and the increasingly 23 prevalent bipolar models are virtually immune to such 24 interference. Vehicles shield occupants from electrical 25 fields when passing beneath a transmission line crossing

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1 the road. If people with pacemakers/defibrillators have 2 concerns, they should check with their doctors before 3 walking under the line on the right-of-way. 4 Just by them recommending that you 5 consult your doctor before you walk under the right-of- 6 way if you have a pacemaker, makes me feel more than a 7 little uncomfortable. They say it shouldn’t affect a 8 pacemaker and that the bipolar models are virtually 9 immune. These are maybes. I personally would not want 10 to stake my life on a maybe. 11 And then there is the pollution. First 12 is the visual pollution. These towers aren’t exactly 13 something to put into your family photo album. At about 14 130 feet tall, the towers will be well above the tree 15 line. And whenever they can they’ll be installed from 16 ridge top to ridge top, increasing the towers’ visibility 17 even more. And as I mentioned before, there will be a 18 three-acre plot cleared around them. 19 Next is the spraying to maintain the 20 right-of-way. Even if a property owner could arrange for 21 them not to spray on his property, it is no guarantee 22 that the helicopter didn’t just stop as he came to the 23 edge of the property and start up again as soon as he got 24 across it. Contrary to what is said about spraying is 25 that the wind does blow and water does run downhill.

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1 This is a concern for anyone close to the line, 2 especially gardeners and farmers. 3 There is also radio pollution. I quote 4 from PATH’S Website. 5 Question number 20 (sic), will this 6 line affect TV or radio reception? High-voltage lines 7 can cause wide-band electric and magnetic noise fields 8 that can become more pronounced in foul weather or at 9 higher altitude. This can interfere with AM radio or TV 10 signals but generally does not affect FM radio reception. 11 PATH will utilize a six-conductor bundle arrangement 12 designed to minimize magnetic field noise and will 13 produce less radio and TV interference than other 14 existing 765-kilovolt lines. 15 We do not get TV reception where we 16 live as it is, so our main source of news is over the 17 radio. NPR and two local stations are our main news 18 stations. They say it doesn’t generally affect FM radio, 19 but that’s no guarantee that it won’t interfere. We also 20 listen to a few AM stations and a shortwave station. 21 These are affected by nearby storms, as you all know. 22 The PATH might affect these sources. I don’t know how it 23 might affect CB radio, but I know a few people who would 24 be a bit upset if they were cut off from it. 25 Yet another form of pollution to worry

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1 about is the increase in coal consumption. I don’t have 2 the exact figures, but I know it will be increased. I 3 also know that after the right-of-way is cleared, there 4 will be a lot less trees to absorb the extra pollution. 5 But the pollution I worry about the 6 most will be the noise pollution. I quote their Website 7 again. This question number 18 at the top. 8 How much noise will the line make? 9 Will I be able to hear it? It is typical for a 765- 10 kilovolt line to produce some corona effects, which can 11 include some noise. We will utilize a six-conductor 12 bundle configuration, which significantly reduces the 13 corona effect. In fair weather, sound levels from the 14 edge of the right-of-way will be comparable to sound 15 levels inside a library or typical suburbs at night. In 16 foul weather, the sound levels will be comparable to or 17 lower than the sound of falling rain, end quote. 18 I live in a quiet hollow. I would not 19 want to have a suburbs at night move onto my property. 20 Sounds can travel and echo in amazing ways in a hollow. 21 I can hear the hound dogs at the head of the hollow, and 22 that’s about a 20, 25 minute walk away. Our closest 23 neighbors are a ten minute walk, and we can literally 24 carry on a conversation with them without shouting too 25 loudly. Now imagine, in the dead of winter, when there

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1 would normally be a serene silence, this buzzing echoing 2 throughout the hollow. Kind of ruins the peaceful 3 atmosphere, doesn’t it? And this buzzing is 24 hours a 4 day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. 5 And when they say it will be comparable 6 or lower than the sound of falling rain during foul 7 weather, what does this mean? Is foul weather a bad 8 storm or just a drizzle? When they say comparable to 9 falling rain, I think that’s going to be more than just a 10 little annoying. I value the peace in the country. It 11 allows me to think and relaxes me at night, and it 12 reminds me of the many reasons why I love the country. 13 Now we come to costs. I cite from 14 Interstate Electric Transmission: Enabler for Clean 15 Energy that the line will cost an average of about $2.6 16 million per mile. And that’s not including any station 17 costs. 18 I wonder if they are figuring in the 19 costs of lawsuits from landowners. What are the taxes 20 going to be on the line? What are the maintenance costs 21 and the cost of these proceedings that they know they are 22 paying a part of? 23 The problem with the price tag on this 24 thing is that we are going to have to pay for it. And by 25 we, I mean every ratepayer that gets their electricity

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1 from Allegheny Energy. I don’t want to foot the bill for 2 something that I don’t want. I don’t want to foot the 3 bill for something that I, the people in this State and 4 ten governors don’t want. With the economy in the shape 5 it’s in now, I don’t think we should be spending this 6 kind of money on something that nobody even wants. 7 Another tax that would affect the 8 ratepayer would be the proposed carbon tax. With the 9 increased coal consumption, the tax will be higher for 10 Allegheny Energy, and they’ll just pass it on to the 11 ratepayer. In all of this, Allegheny Energy gets cost 12 plus ten percent or more, which means that the more they 13 spend, the more money they make. 14 One other thing on costs, if the PATH 15 is canceled halfway through, who pays? You got it. We 16 would get stuck with that, too. 17 I believe that it’s kind of wrong to 18 complain about a problem without at least proposing a 19 solution. My solution would probably fall under what 20 some people would consider pipe dreams category, but here 21 it is anyway. If, instead of spending all his money on a 22 power line, the company instead started installing small 23 wind, solar or hydro power installations on customers’ 24 properties and instead of buying right-of-ways either by 25 agreement or eminent domain, customers would actually

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1 sign up to get this. I would. A network of many of 2 these small systems would be a lot more reliable, more 3 environmentally friendly, more publicly accepted --- 4 people would ask to get these installations, not fight 5 them in court --- and it would be a lot more politically 6 acceptable. It wouldn’t be taxed as hard, and it would 7 earn green credits through the carbon tax. 8 If power is needed in another state, 9 start a subsidiary company to take care of those 10 customers. There are many more solutions to this 11 problem. But a large power line that will take away 12 land, cost the ratepayers enormous amounts of money, 13 pollute the land with noise, sprays, radio interference 14 and EMFs and that will be a large target for terrorists 15 --- one terrorist, one bomb, one tower, one major 16 blackout --- will not solve this problem. 17 In closing, I’m requesting that the 18 PATH not be approved, that the construction not start on 19 it for the sake of the people of this State. I am 20 praying that their request will be denied. My girlfriend 21 and I are getting serious about living here and raising a 22 family, and I don’t want to have to say to my child, that 23 is the line that your daddy and your grandparents fought 24 and lost. I want my child to know the peace, the silence 25 in the winter and the beauty of the land that I saw and I

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1 value. Thank you. Halleluiah. 2 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 3 Thank you, sir. Okay. I would just 4 ask that your comments be --- if you have a lengthy 5 presentation, you can file the comments with us and give 6 a summary. As I said, we’re not going to cut anybody 7 off, but you can see that if we have lengthy 8 presentations, it cuts into the time of others. All 9 right. Who’s next?

10 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER : 11 Excuse me. I just have a concern that 12 since that microphone was not working initially, having 13 been a court reporter for 20-plus years myself, and Mayor 14 Campbell’s parents both are court reporters, that his 15 comments are not going to be reflected and the 16 information that he ---. 17 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 18 His comments were recorded. 19 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 20 The court reporter says he got it. I 21 could hear him quite easily. I’m sure he could, too. 22 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER : 23 I just ---.

24 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 25 I’m sorry, ma’am. I can only go ---

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1 the court reporter tells me that he got the comments 2 down, and they’ll be in the transcript. The transcript 3 will be available on the Website. 4 AUDIENCE MEMBER : 5 Thank you. 6 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 7 Yes, ma’am. All right. Other 8 presentations? Why don’t you come over here? Come over 9 here, please.

10 MS. KENNEN : 11 Hi. My name is Judith Kennen. I live 12 at Falls Mill. I own a farm of 120 acres there. 13 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 14 Would you spell your last name, please? 15 MS. KENNEN : 16 K-E-N-N-E-N. The West Virginia Public 17 Service Commission has printed on its Web letterhead: 18 Ensuring that reasonably-priced and reliable utility 19 services are available to all customers. It’s my opinion 20 this power line will neither efficiently serve the 21 citizens of West Virginia, or as in line four on the 22 Webpage in the vision statement of the Public Service 23 Commission, lead to an improvement in standards of living 24 and quality of life for the people of West Virginia, or 25 item five, that consumers receive the best value in

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1 utility service from financially viable and technically 2 competent companies. This is not a technically competent 3 power line. 4 The companies represented here today 5 are several times removed from any public utility and 6 are, in fact, LLCs. LLC is limited liability. How does 7 that affect the property owners, the consumers? How does 8 that affect everybody? 9 I am grateful that item one states that 10 the Public Service Commission will work tirelessly to 11 ensure impartial and efficient resolution of all 12 jurisdictional issues. Not only is it not fair to us 13 that the citizens won’t gain, it’s more than likely to 14 deny us our property without just compensation, or we 15 will not be made whole. It will displace citizens of 16 this State, creating hardship, increasing the cost in 17 power and in taxes. People don’t come to see our 18 countryside for the power lines. Once again, West 19 Virginia is being devalued for the sake of the more 20 heavily populated northeastern states. Every year, I 21 have hundreds of guests that come to observe my pristine 22 sky over 120 acres. They stay in local hotels, eat at 23 restaurants, shop at the outlet mall. How many tourists 24 will drive here to see these giant eyesores? My farm 25 will be cut in half, 120 acres, a nine-acre swath through

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1 the center. This is the view now. You can see for five 2 miles. Every room in my house has a view. In the 3 future, I’ll see hulking towers with blinking lights. We 4 can’t observe --- we won’t be able to see the stars at 5 night through the white lights. My children don’t even 6 want property there now. We were subdividing it. I had 7 planned at retirement to sell off plots and give my 8 children property. And they have, all three of them, 9 said, if the power line is going to be there, we’re going 10 to buy property someplace else. 11 The West Virginia Public Service 12 Commission should serve the citizens of this State and 13 their interests first. Please do not compromise our 14 right to economic stability for the sake of the profits 15 to be made by large corporate entities. Please represent 16 the true greater good of the State of West Virginia. 17 Thank you.

18 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 19 Thank you, ma’am. All right. 20 MR. URBANIC : 21 Hello. My name is Tim Urbanic, 22 U-R-B-A-N-I-C. Thank you for giving us --- giving me the 23 chance to say something. I have a business in Braxton 24 County, and I own a farm in Calhoun County. I lived 25 there for 30-some years. I’m not quite sure how just a

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1 few people can decide what a whole lot of people need to 2 do, so that’s why I come here. I have a lot more to say 3 than I have time, but most people are saying what I 4 wanted to say or need to say. So I’m going to cut this 5 pretty short. 6 The PATH line is going to cut right 7 through my yard in Calhoun County. And I heard people 8 talk about fair market value and real estate price. 9 Well, I just wanted to let at least you all know, my farm 10 is not for sale right now, and I’ll let you know when it 11 is. It’s pretty simple. I have --- I just want to 12 understand a few things, and one of them is for the 13 people power to keep continuing to push this PATH on the 14 1,600 families in West Virginia who don’t want it --- I 15 read a lot of letters. They all pretty much share the 16 same feeling that we share. It seems that the people in 17 power are pretty blinded by an incredible amount of 18 ignorance and arrogance and greed. There are so many 19 other ways to do this that would benefit not just West 20 Virginia but a lot of other people. 21 The PATH line pretty much benefits the 22 electric companies. We’re looking at a really high 23 increase in rates and pretty much no benefit. One of the 24 biggest growing businesses in West Virginia is tourism. 25 I happen to be a part of that. I own an inn. I really

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1 don’t want to go backwards. The project slaps us all in 2 the face. We all know, and I’m old enough to know, that 3 there’s so many other alternatives to this that we can 4 all share in them. We want everybody to have power. We 5 want everybody to have jobs. There’s no question about 6 that. But we want to do it in a much more broader way 7 than this very, very narrow vision. 8 I am not quite sure why West Virginia, 9 the leaders in West Virginia don’t take a look at 10 everybody around us. Most of the east coast states are 11 much more forward thinking than we are and are pursuing 12 alternatives and cleaner ways to do this. This project 13 continues to leave the people in West Virginia bearing 14 the burden for others and leaving us no hope to grow our 15 number one business. And once again, I’ll tell you 16 that’s tourism. I’m trying to ask you all where the 17 vision for the future is. It’s a very antiquated 18 thought. We need to change the way we think. We need to 19 no longer be at the tail end of what the future has but 20 at the front. 21 You’ve heard this over and over again. 22 I think that now is the time to stand with the West 23 Virginians and feel the same opposition we all feel and 24 find a better way to do this. Now is the time. Thank 25 you, gentlemen.

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1 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 2 Thank you, Mr. Urbanic. Yes, ma’am? 3 MS. GATELESS : 4 My name is Karin, K-A-R-I-N, Gateless, 5 G-A-T-E-L-E-S-S. And West Virginia is a truly beautiful 6 State, but unfortunately it seems that it continues to 7 get raped by big companies over and over again. It’s a 8 historical fact, the coal companies, the machining 9 companies and now the electric companies. They’re all 10 gaining wealth at the expense of the citizens of our 11 State, and it does seem, as Mr. Urbanic said, that the 12 State cares about people that actually live here --- as 13 our property continues to get stolen, the peace of mind, 14 the security and the beauty of our State is ruined. I’m 15 definitely not for this.

16 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 17 Thank you, ma’am. Yes, sir? 18 MR. DOBBINS : 19 Hi. My name is William Dobbins. I’m 20 from Chloe, West Virginia. And the last name is 21 D-O-B-B-I-N-S. I’m a native of Braxton County originally 22 and currently a resident of Calhoun County, and I oppose 23 PATH. 24 It seems that others have already 25 adequately covered the absurdness of this project,

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1 ranging from why we don’t need it to how we’re going to 2 be locked into coal power for centuries to come, even 3 that we, as West Virginians, are going to be footing the 4 bill for this project. It is beyond my comprehension why 5 these companies refuse to invest in any alternative 6 energies, such as wind or solar. They have been proven 7 to be very useful. And as a matter of fact, Duke Energy 8 and others are investing heavily in them as we speak. 9 PATH is not for me, my friends or my family, and it’s 10 affecting more than just me personally. If PATH is 11 allowed to proceed, it will not only affect our new home 12 that we’re recently currently building in Calhoun County 13 but also my family’s home in Calhoun. It also will 14 affect my brother’s and my father’s farms, both in 15 Braxton County. And I don’t think this is what we need as 16 a State. 17 It seems that throughout the 18 controversy of whether --- it seems as though throughout 19 the controversy about PATH, very little information has 20 been collected on whether or not we will benefit from it. 21 The data collected so far is, from what I have read, not 22 true. PATH is only needed if AEP and Allegheny expect to 23 get their investors a return on their investment. So of 24 course, they’ll hire people to say what they want to say 25 and hire professionals to be yes-men. This happens all

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1 the time. Also, big coal plays a major role here. Coal 2 was our future in the past, but this is now, and coal is 3 not our present future. 4 Throughout this controversy I’ve also 5 seen little information on electromagnetic field, EMF, 6 and extremely low frequency, ELF. What I have seen 7 provided by PATH and associates is wrong. They say that 8 there’s no need for worry. It was said that EMF and ELF 9 poses no threat. However, the World Health Organization 10 sets a tolerance of four milliGuass. This project will 11 expose humans and livestock within 200 feet to 30, 40 12 times that recommended level set by WHO standards. Even 13 PATH says at the edge of the right-of-way the milliGuass 14 will be between 75 and 140. I received two separate 15 degrees in the computer field and, in fact, studied this 16 force in school. The fact is 300 feet within the line, 17 the levels are still unacceptable. According to the

18 British Journal of Medicine , the tolerance should be much 19 lower, and they extend the safety range to almost 1,800 20 feet. In that same journal they state that within 600 21 feet a 70 percent increased risk of cancer occurs in 22 children. At 1,800 feet, a 20-percent increase. There’s 23 definitely a link between the forces of ELF and EMF and 24 the cancer of children, let alone unknown health hazards 25 to livestock and humans. Again, one more reason not to

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1 approve PATH. Thank you. 2 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 3 Thank you, sir. 4 MR. DOBBINS : 5 Is there a record? Do you want that? 6 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 7 If you have an extra copy of it, yeah, 8 it helps with the transcript.

9 MR. DOBBINS : 10 Sure. Thank you. 11 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 12 Thank you. All right. Other comments? 13 MR. CORSON : 14 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is 15 David Corson, C-O-R-S-O-N. There’s been a recent court 16 decision which held that West Virginia does not have to 17 accept PATH. My question to the Commission is, when will 18 it be put before the people for a referendum so people 19 can vote it up or down? I thank you, sir. 20 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 21 All right, sir. Thank you. Other 22 comments? Yes, ma’am? 23 MS. HARRIS-THACKER : 24 Hello. My name is Joyce 25 Harris-Thacker. That’s H-A-R-R-I-S, hyphen,

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1 T-H-A-C-K-E-R. I’m a property owner in Upshur County, 2 taxpayer in West Virginia. I’m a former County 3 Commissioner in Upshur County. 4 If the power companies want to build a 5 PATH transmission line to carry power from the John Amos 6 Power Plant in Winfield, West Virginia to Maryland and 7 other points beyond, then more power to them. They need 8 to contact the power --- the proper owners where they 9 want the power to go, convince them to sell their 10 property and right-of-way to them and build their line. 11 That’s business, and that’s their business. We are not 12 opposed to that. It is of no concern to us unless we 13 want to be part of that business transaction, which we 14 assure you we do not. 15 We would be opposed to the Public 16 Service Commission ruling that our rights as property 17 owners to make that decision would be taken from us and 18 that we would be told that we must sell our property 19 through eminent domain to the power companies because it 20 is a necessity for us here in West Virginia to pay to 21 send this power to other states. We would have to pay by 22 giving up our right to decide, by giving up our property, 23 by being exposed to health hazards and by being required 24 to pay for the building and future maintenance of the 25 line but not reaping any benefits whatsoever. Does that

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1 sound like a necessity to you? 2 The answer is obvious to us. We are 3 the people of West Virginia, property owners, residents, 4 taxpayers of West Virginia. Please do not tell us that 5 it is a necessity that we must sell our property, 6 destroying the beauty and value of the land we love that 7 has been in our --- in many of our families for 8 generations and put the health and welfare of our 9 families at risk. And for what? So that power companies 10 can continue to raise our rates. The power company is 11 asking for a 14 percent increase on its regular members 12 so that they can continue to pay upper level management 13 tens of millions of dollars in salaries while our babies 14 and elderly get cold and die alone because they can’t 15 afford to turn the heat in their homes. 16 I would like to mention that I’m the 17 director of the Upshur County Family Resource Network, 18 and I spent some time at a home today with a single mom 19 with two children, one with special needs. And she and I 20 cried together today because she’s been without power for 21 going on four months. And we need to raise $2,000 so 22 they can turn the power back on so that their family 23 won’t go cold. Now, up to this point in time, you know, 24 it hasn’t been as cold. Now it’s quite cold. 25 You’re appointed to serve us. Please

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1 say no to PATH and to government seizing control of our 2 property and the rights that we have worked so hard for 3 all of our lives. Please join us in stopping this 4 travesty of justice. West Virginia is open for business, 5 but we’re not for sale. Thank you. 6 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 7 Thank you, ma’am. Other comments? 8 Yes, sir.

9 MR. CARR : 10 My name is David Carr, C-A-R-R. Like 11 everybody, I’m a landowner. Where this PATH is coming 12 through, it’s coming right past my house. It’s going to 13 cut through timber and everything else. And I’ve seen 14 what they do. They move everything over to the side and 15 leave it for you to take care of. It’s just an eyesore. 16 Like everybody else, I’m opposed to PATH taking my 17 property. 18 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 19 Thank you, Mr. Carr. Other comments? 20 MS. SALISBURY : 21 My name is Patty Salisbury. 22 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 23 I’m sorry. Spell your last name.

24 MS. SALISBURY : 25 Salisbury, S-A-L-I-S-B-U-R-Y. I do not

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1 have a speech prepared, but I do want to make a couple of 2 comments. I do oppose the power line going through 3 Braxton County. I-79 cut through Braxton County years 4 ago, and we did see some benefits from that, the value 5 power line coming through Braxton County. It also 6 crosses the interstate. It’s unavoidable. 7 I am not knowledgeable and I do not 8 claim to be knowledgeable about the effects of this power 9 line. I do know school buses run up and down that 10 interstate every day. As a mother, I would be quite 11 concerned --- unless you can guarantee me that it’s a 12 hundred-percent safe --- I would be very concerned about 13 my daughter’s traveling under that power line for 13 14 years, back and forth every day. 15 It also would ruin the beauty of 16 Braxton County. I-79, I thought years ago, would ruin 17 Braxton County. It didn’t. We wouldn’t be here in this 18 building if it wasn’t for I-79 I think we --- we kind 19 of thought, again, divided up, and this will divide 20 Braxton County up even more with this power line crossing 21 the interstate. Also, notwithstanding, this power line 22 will go through country roads, where school buses will be 23 coming through with children. Unless you can guarantee 24 it’s a hundred percent safe, I would be very concerned. 25 And I think other parents would be, too. Thank you.

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1 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 2 Thank you, ma’am. Further comment? 3 Yes, ma’am? 4 MS. BUCKHEIMER : 5 Hi. My name is Barb Buckheimer, and 6 I’m a transplant into this State. And I moved to this 7 State for the beauty of it, the natural beauty that you 8 have in the woods, the brooks, the lakes and everything. 9 Where I come from, the electric company put the line 10 underground because they did not want to disturb the 11 farms, the fields and the woods around everybody’s 12 property. I don’t know if that’s an option with this or 13 not, but it would be a shame to see a great big towers 14 down there around near Falls Mills, where there’s a 15 natural falls and the beauty of the river that runs 16 through there. I have come to love this State, and I 17 wish there was something somebody could do about not 18 having any of these lines running across it. Thank you.

19 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 20 Thank you, ma’am. Yes? 21 MS. ENGLISH : 22 Hi. My name is Deanna English, 23 D-E-A-N-N-A, English, like the language. I live in 24 Calhoun County. If the PATH line crosses adjacent to our 25 property or through it, it will render our property

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1 uninhabitable not only as human inhabitants but for a 2 variety of species. 3 I also see this whole PATH thing as a 4 dangerous attack on our State sovereignty. If it’s 5 allowed to pass and approved, we’re in for big trouble 6 because we sit on a load of valuable resources in this 7 State, and the whole world wants them. We’ve already got 8 other countries coming in and buying up the head waters 9 of the country. The number one commodity, the most 10 valuable thing that we have, is water, our fresh air and 11 our water. This PATH project is not going to help the 12 air quality. It will damage the water quality in 13 numerous ways. 14 One of the primary ways that I suppose 15 that it will damage it is through erosion. In my 16 neighborhood, the soils --- according to the USDA NRCS 17 soil surveys, the four dominant types of soil that we 18 have are all considered --- the slip factor of all soils 19 is greater than eight percent. All the soils are greater 20 than eight percent. The subsoil --- of all of these 21 different soils, the subsoil is highly susceptible to 22 shrinking and drying and swelling when wet. Also, on all 23 four of these soils, the use of equipment is restricted 24 on the soil during wet seasons because the soil is soft 25 and slippery. Erosion on logging roads and skid trails

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1 is a major management concern. If it is for them, and 2 they’re small logging equipment is much smaller than what 3 they’re going to need to put up these big high lines. 4 Also, so far as the erosion hazard of 5 this, one of the soils is considered a moderate erosion 6 hazard. Another one is considered a moderate erosion 7 hazard. However, the bedrock is generally at depths 8 greater than five feet. Severely eroded areas have lost 9 most or all the surface topsoil and part of the subsoil 10 in some locations. I believe they’ll have to remove all 11 the topsoil in order to create a solid foundation for 12 these towers. And although they say it’s a 200-foot 13 swath, I’m sorry, by the time you dig down and make a 14 flat, level 200 foot across the tops of these mountains, 15 it will be impossible without --- within that range. I 16 think that they need to go back to the drawing board. 17 It’s infeasible to cross West Virginia 18 --- it’s a mountainous region --- with power lines like 19 this. I can’t believe we’re even here. It makes no 20 sense. And I’m not a rocket scientist. It’s also --- 21 severe erosion has drawn two of those types of soil and 22 there is severe equipment limitation on all four types of 23 soil, okay, if it’s a wet year --- what about this year. 24 So I suspect that their proposed costs 25 of doing this are far, far underrated because they’re

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1 going to have a lot of slipping and falling and erosion. 2 And with all these rains we’re having, there’s going to 3 be increased flooding, which in Calhoun County, we’ve 4 already once this year proclaimed a national --- or a 5 disaster --- federal disaster zone or whatever, for 6 flooding. It will increase the flooding. It will 7 increase the degradation of streams, the quality of the 8 water. In a lot of cases, rural people depend on their 9 water supply that’s on their property. This will destroy 10 it. 11 Also, the hilltop seems to be a good 12 place --- king of the hills of West Virginia, how about 13 mountaintop removal. Everybody is fighting over the 14 hilltops. Well, the gas companies like to travel on the 15 hilltops, too. There’s a lot of abandoned gas wells and 16 gas pipes in West Virginia. Companies that didn’t want 17 to keep up with the maintenance and the erosion problems 18 created by those roads and stuff, and old lines that they 19 put in will be left vacant. They won’t be known --- 20 right now, cathodic protection --- I don’t understand it. 21 cathodic energy is a static that’s created from gas 22 moving through the pipelines. And the electric lines can 23 ignite it, and I’m scared that they mentioned sparks and 24 stuff. I don’t understand that. But right now the 25 burden is on the gas companies to supply that cathodic

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1 protection. With an electric line of this magnitude, 2 that would be an expensive cost. And if the gas 3 companies have to prepare --- or have to come up with 4 that money, not only will the consumers be getting gouged 5 in their electric bills, they’ll get gouged in their gas 6 bills, too, because the gas companies will have to raise 7 their prices to cover the costs of this protection. 8 Furthermore, once you take off the soil 9 and take this strip across the heart of the State, 10 invasive species will follow the line, numerous invasive 11 species, plants, animals or whatever. I think it will 12 create a fire hazard because they’re just going to push 13 the project along the side. One of the main grasses that 14 comes in on every road that I’ve seen recently is known 15 as stilt grass. You convert stilt grass when it’s green. 16 It seems like it might be a good biofuel maybe for a 17 digester or something, but we don’t want to keep it in 18 West Virginia. It will hurt us economically in numerous 19 ways. The nicest seed trees in the forest are along atop 20 the ridges. The old-timers used to divide the property 21 along the ridge tops, and they wouldn’t cut the hills --- 22 or the trees off the tops. They would let them grow big 23 and lessen the possibility of fences being run on them 24 because they weren’t good for timbering. That’s where 25 the best seed source is. If you wipe them out, there

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1 won’t be the seed source to feed the future generation of 2 plants, plus the invasive plants that take over. 3 But the worst part is that the cure of 4 the invasive plant is worse than the invasive plants 5 themselves. At least invasive plants have beneficial 6 uses, but the side effects from using the herbicides, the 7 biological controls, are numerous and negative. If you’d 8 like a copy, the Department of Forestry has made up this 9 Dealing with Stilt Grass that advocates using Round Up 10 and stuff. It’s a great and wonderful, sustainable 11 business, but I have this information right here that 12 tells how it degrades the water, the animals, all the 13 negative impacts of it. And that’s what we teach is safe 14 to use? I don’t believe that they’ll be able to maintain 15 their right-of-ways in a manner that will protect the 16 integrity of our resources. 17 In addition, another invasive species 18 that will travel the lines is the Asiatic lady beetle. 19 The Asiatic lady beetle is over at Ohio State --- I think 20 it was Ohio State University. I saw a presentation. 21 They did some research over there on ladybugs. And the 22 footage is really scary. Someplace I have that 23 information, but I don’t know where it is. But it shows 24 these ladybugs flying in massive swarms to go to these 25 large electrical towers because they simulate the natural

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1 environment over in china, which is these big white 2 cliffs. And so they go to those, and then they want to 3 go to houses for the warmth in the wintertime. Well, 4 there’s many health hazards that are imposed with these 5 ladybugs. First of all, I’m allergic to the fungus that 6 grows on the outside of them symbiotically. And sadly, I 7 think that it could be one of those biotechniques that 8 they have to do with the ladybugs, biocontrols, is they 9 keep releasing these bugs and stuff, and we don’t 10 understand the consequences of our actions. 11 But I did go ahead, and I brought along 12 some information, if I could submit it, if it’s possible.

13 I’ve got articles here from the Calhoun Chronicle 14 Newspaper talking about the allergic reactions that 15 people have to the ladybugs and stuff, how it’s affecting 16 the populace. According to the --- does that mean I’m 17 over? 18 Also, centralizing the electric 19 production is a threat to the national security between 20 EMPs --- I’ve got information that you all can look at, 21 you know, the electric sabotage plus natural things like 22 sunspots that occur on the sun can go again and melt 23 lines and cause fires. An ice storm would --- the ice 24 storm we had --- I think it was back in the ‘90s. I 25 remember watching the electric lines go like this, up and

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1 down, in the air from the weight of the ice on it until 2 they finally started snapping and breaking. We were 3 without electric for three weeks. 4 I have lived without electric for eight 5 years now, and I can testify humans can live without 6 electric. We can’t live without air. We can’t live 7 without water. We can’t live without food that’s safe to 8 eat. And West Virginia has the capacity to be an 9 economically viable place for our young people to glean 10 an understanding of the woods and glean an income from 11 the woods themselves and make a value out of our 12 property. Instead, all our young people are leaving to 13 go to the cities while all our resources are being 14 depleted by alien invasive entities that want to export 15 all our resources. We have all the different inhabitants 16 of the land, big and little. I ask that you please 17 reject their request and tell them to take their 18 unconscionable contract home. We don’t want them. Thank 19 you.

20 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 21 Thank you, Ms. English. 22 MS. ENGLISH : 23 Can I submit this?

24 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 25 Our clerk will take your information.

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1 Thank you. Other comments? I don’t mean to make it 2 sound like an auction, but going once ---? 3 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER : 4 I have one more question. I asked when 5 they came to talk to me why they can’t put the power line 6 on the existing power line because I have a power line 7 --- I have one power line now. And they said the 8 existing power line doesn’t want the liability of the new 9 power line. So if one electric company doesn’t want the 10 other electric companies because the liability is too 11 large and the other electric company is set up as an LLC 12 so no one would have to pay, doesn’t that sound like a 13 bad idea?

14 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 15 Well, I don’t --- we’ll take your 16 comment. 17 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER : 18 There’s one power line there now. They 19 can piggyback power lines. 20 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 21 I understand. Other comments? Yes, 22 ma’am. 23 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER : 24 I just have a couple words to say. I 25 am also opposed to the power line, and I’d like you to

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1 reconsider letting it go through. Thank you. 2 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 3 All right. Thank you. Other comments? 4 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER : 5 Is there any way we can find out how 6 many buildings or houses --- could they put it in the 7 paper or something how many houses and stuff and 8 buildings that are going to have to be removed or be 9 nearby or will affect us? That would be nice if they can 10 just do that much.

11 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 12 The CAD has indicated that they will 13 get back to you with that information 14 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER : 15 Okay. Thank you. 16 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 17 Thank you. Sir? 18 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER : 19 I have one other opinion if I may add? 20 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 21 No. You’ve had your chance. We’re 22 really trying to end the evening if we can, but I don’t 23 want anybody to be deprived of the opportunity to speak 24 who hasn’t spoken yet. 25 MS. FACEMIRE :

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1 May I speak? I got called away. You 2 saw what just walked in this room with me. My name is 3 Shelly Facemire. That’s F-A-C-E-M-I-R-E. Those two 4 children that just walked in this room is more than 5 enough excuse to refuse the power line coming through our 6 property. And if you all let them in the back door, then 7 when they push through, you come and move into my 8 property with your children and your grandchildren 9 because the pesticides that they will use to clear these 10 lines will contaminate the water. The sound will 11 contaminate our surroundings, just like Shadrach Ross 12 said. We don’t need this in West Virginia. This is 13 something that the states around us are using. They’re 14 just dumping on us. We’re not going to benefit from this 15 power line. They’re just using us as a transmitter. We 16 don’t need it. 17 As West Virginians, we’ve always grown, 18 and we’ve always done good, and we use our own innovative 19 technologies in order to grow. These other states around 20 us can do the same thing. If they want power, let them 21 build their own power plants. Let them come up with 22 their own sources. They don’t need us. We don’t need 23 them. We can set up our windmills. We can do whatever 24 we need. We have water. We can use it for electricity. 25 We have coal, and I know there is some people that does

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1 not like the use of coal. This country was built on 2 coal. And it was built by timber. And I’m not against 3 the use of it. It just seems that it may not be 4 profitable to everyone. We can use those natural 5 resources. God gave them to us. Just like the natural 6 earth and things that grows in the woods. God gave us 7 those things, too. We need to get back to them. 8 We don’t need all the stuff that they 9 use --- that they bring in and that they make our 10 medicines with. How many side effects do they give 11 everybody? The harm is just as bad as the diseases it 12 might be fighting. The same thing with power lines. We 13 don’t need them. If they come through, they’ll kill our 14 deer along with everything else that the DNR brings in 15 that does us harm. We know what it says, again, it is 16 essentially not true. I’m sorry. It’s nothing personal 17 against you guys. But you have to remember, you’re 18 working for us. We trust you with our lives. We trust 19 you. And this is what we trust you with, our young ones, 20 your young ones. Don’t bring this power line to West 21 Virginia. Let the other counties --- I mean the other 22 states get their power from their own sources. Thank 23 you.

24 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 25 Thank you, ma’am. All right. Other

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1 comments? Yes, ma’am? 2 MS. JENKINS : 3 Hello. My name is Faith Ann (phonetic) 4 Jenkins. I’m from Chapel Road. You spell my name J-E-N- 5 K-I-N-S. And I’m going to speak to you about this being 6 ---. I’m embarrassed, I didn’t prepare a speech. But 7 this line is going to affect every family on my road. 8 And this line is going to cross the left side of my home, 9 plus on the ridge behind my house, plus across Route 7 10 below my house, where I have to travel to go to town. It 11 crosses the road that I have to go to church. It’s going 12 to cross the road, like this lady said, where the school 13 bus runs. We have three wells on our property. I don’t 14 know how many feet it will be from the back of my house 15 to the ridge top, where they’re going to take like two- 16 plus acres of our land to put --- it’s going to be on the 17 edge, on the top of the ridge --- from the top of the 18 hill to Route 7. And then it will cross there, and it 19 will take our land. 20 But we have three wells on that one 21 tract of land and another well on another tract. And 22 it’s the best-tasting water under the sun, as far as I 23 know. And I know that it will ruin that water source. 24 But if they make the top of the hill and they spray the 25 vegetation, like the other lady said, the erosion comes

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1 back --- it will eventually take our home. And we’ll be 2 right out in the middle of the road because there’s a lot 3 of slips in that hill the way it is. And there’s a lot 4 of water in that area. And if you get the stuff from the 5 insecticides into the water, plus the slate where the 6 water pushes across --- it’s already slipped one time. 7 And there’s enough slip on the other side of my house. 8 And you know how that water runs off there --- it’s 9 likely to take it all out. It’s even slipped below the 10 house. 11 This is not my concern as much as it is 12 for the young children that live on that that will follow 13 me --- is because outsiders is coming back in from these 14 other places where we’re shipping this power to. They’re 15 buying up our land. And there’s not much land left for 16 our children to even buy or inherit in order to make a 17 living. As West Virginians, we may not have --- the 18 whatever of this power line, the good or the bad, but I’m 19 wasn’t even aware that it was coming across my property

20 until I read it in the Citizen’s News . And it wasn’t too 21 long after that I received a call said they was 22 transplanting, said they ran out of text, but they wanted 23 to show us where the line was going to go. And it’s kind 24 of weird that I have --- I don’t have access to the 25 Internet. I really don’t have access to information to

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1 inform myself of the pluses or the negatives of this, but 2 I know with it going as close to my house as it is and 3 with it --- the interference of even a garden, electrical 4 fence around my garden --- like they said, interferes 5 with TV or radio. Well, there’s a lot of us West 6 Virginians who listen to the radio a lot now because they 7 don’t have their TV anymore because they’ve done away 8 with the analog signals. We have all these digital 9 signals. I’d imagine there’s a lot of people who live in 10 these hollows that they can’t even get the TV anymore. 11 Well, if you mess up the AM radio, where are we going to 12 get our information from? 13 We may not have a lot, but we do work, 14 and we try to fix our mistakes. We enjoy what God has 15 given us, and we’d like to be able to keep it us. But 16 there’s no price -- there’s no price on kids. There’s no 17 price. You can’t buy that once it’s gone. You can’t put 18 it back. And I have two grandchildren that’s going to be 19 affected by this because, like I say, everybody on my 20 road, it’s either going to be in front of their house or 21 in back of their house, and they’re going to be hearing 22 these noises and seeing this stuff all the time. And it 23 affects me the line crosses directly in front of my 24 house. It’s not a very good thing to live with. I plead 25 with you not to do this to the beautiful State of West

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1 Virginia. 2 CHAIRMAN ALBERT : 3 Thank you, ma’am. Other comments? All 4 right. We have hearings in a number of other counties. 5 I’m not sure of the exact number of hearings we have 6 left, but we will be taking public comment in other 7 counties. We appreciate your coming out. We appreciate 8 hearing your comments. We are charged by statute with 9 making this decision. We are told by the legislature and 10 by rules what factors we can consider. We certainly can 11 give weight to the comments that were made this evening, 12 and we do appreciate your coming out. I know that 13 sometimes you don’t think we listen, but believe me, we 14 hear what you’re saying. We will take all of this under 15 consideration as we make our decision. And I want to 16 thank you for the attention you’ve given us and the 17 courtesy that you’ve shown this evening. Thank you very 18 much. Our hearing is adjourned. 19 20 * * * * * * * * 21 PUBLIC HEARING CONCLUDED AT 8:00 P.M. 22 * * * * * * * * 23 24 25

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1 2 CERTIFICATE 3 4 I hereby certify, as the stenographic reporter, 5 that the foregoing proceedings were taken 6 stenographically by me, and thereafter reduced to 7 typewriting by me or under my direction; and that this 8 transcript is a true and accurate record to the best of 9 my ability. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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