Continued lobbying

On Sunday, November 2nd, Congressman Chris Carney D-10th district, held a campaign rally up in Milford. Of course, Jordan Lewis( a power line committee member and my official "Congressman, Senator/ Governor harassment photographer") and I went there to talk to Chris. Chris Carney, when voted into office in 2006, came out against sec 1221 of the Bush-Cheney 2005 Energy Policy Act that is allowing PPL to bring 190ft towers and 1/2 million volts of electricity through Saw Creek Estates. I don't know what Carney's positions are on other issues, but as far as the power line issue goes, he's on Saw Creek's side.





On the subject of the PPL Susquehanna- Roseland upgrade, what needs to be understood , is that Sec 1221 of that act allows PPL build this line no matter what- whether the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission ( PUC) turns down PPL's application or not! Section 1221 created what is called the NIETC- National Interest Electricity Transmission Corridor. Transmission of Electricity( and infrastructure improvement) within this corridor( which includes 52 of PA counties ) is deemed in the" National Interest" and comes under the Electrical Regulatory auspices ( at least in our area) of PJM Interconnection( Pennsylvania- Jersey- Maryland Interconnect). Make no mistake, PJM is the REAL power behind this line upgrade. They want it BAD!!! This line, as I have said in the past, is a license to mint money by the billions! Anyway, the PUC has one year from the date of application for approval to say yes or no to the project, after that , all PPL has to do is apply to FERC ( the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) for the right to disregard the PUC's ( and by extension the citizens of PA) decision( if it is no), and seek approval to begin construction! Trust me when I say, PPL and PSE&G are going to take this step no matter what! There is WAY TOO MUCH MONEY at stake for them NOT to take this step.





So why am I telling this little story- well it all comes back to pressuring our politicians who represent us at the federal level. If we work hard enough, and fast enough (by the way- the race is on. PPL sent me a letter the other day offering to let the homeowners in Saw Creek choose what color the 190' tall towers are going to be- brown or grey.... how nice of them), we can impart on those legislators -like Congressman Kanjorski and to some degree Sen. Specter-the idea that if they don't do whatever they can to get this legislation repealed, we will hold them responsible at election day. By doing this, maybe-just maybe, one of them will try to re approach repealing the law. If they succeed, then PPL and PSE&G will have no law behind them allowing them to build this line if we as Pennsylvanians say no to this project.


So write your letters, make those phone calls, and above all keep learning all you can about the what, who, why, when, and where of what PPL is trying to do in our community. Somebody once said... " in knowledge lies power"........ smart man.

" Fight The Power"... Uncle Al





Sunday November 2nd, 2008- Milford PA
Al Spinelli discusses Saw Creek Estates " PPL Problem" with
Congressman Chris Carney.