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 Specter-the idea that if they don't do whatever they can to get this legislation repealed, we will hold them responsible at election day.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.

Vote Congressman Paul Kanjorski out!!

So-I went to Ed Randell's rally for Obama today @ East Stroudsburg University. I had hoped to talk to Gov. Rendell about the PPL issue. Unfortunately his handlers ushered him back to his bus too quickly to get a word with him. I did get to speak to Rep Paul Kanjorski from the 11Th district. Although he does not represent the district Saw Creek Estates is in ( we are in the 10Th district and are represented in the house of representatives by Chris Carney), I thought, since he has been in congress for many years, that I would ask him to help repeal the section of the 2005 energy act that is allowing PPL to destroy our community. Specifically section 1221 of HR bill 6-353. This was the bill that created the NIETC. Anyway, to make a long story short, he started rambling about how we need infrastructure improvement, and said that this project was needed! He then blew me off to his chief of staff and walked away. So, I checked his voting record, and sure enough, he voted yes to the Bush-Cheney NEA Act of 2005 that created the NIETC( National Interest Transmission Corridor). The amazing thing is that part of this line runs through his district too! It's one thing to sell Pennsylvanians not in your own district down the river, but your own constituents too? That's pretty sleazey, even for a politician- which is saying something. You should have seen his eyes get wide when I handed him one of our " Stop The Towers" flyers. The " public servant geniuses" who voted for this legislation had( and continue to have) no clue how much environmental/ quality of life destruction these 200ft tall towers are going to bring to Northeast PA. You could bet the farm that Paul Kanjorski does not have, and WILL never have a 200ft tall tower carrying 1/2 million volts behind HIS home!

I got to meet both Pennsylvania US Senators last week( Specter and Casey- see pics), and both of these guys took the time to listen to me present our case. And BOTH of them promised to help us( whatever that's worth- time will tell) stop this power line upgrade from happening! Yet this guy can't even be bothered!

So-this message is for all the voters in the 11Th district- Vote Kanjorski Out!!
and this message is for everybody else NOT in the 11th district- Tell everyone you know in the 11Th district to vote this guy out!!
This guy DOES NOT CARE about this Powerline issue!! Was he bought off by big business back in 2005? Who knows...

Picture 1- 10/19/2008

Al Spinelli with Sen Bob Casey and Rep John Siptroth

By the way- Saw Creek Estates has NO BETTER Champion on this

issue than John Siptroth

Picture 2-10/20/2008

Al Spinelli questioning Senator Arlen Specter as to why he voted

YES to the 2005 legistlation that created the NIETC .

He started out defending his vote, than as I kept questioning

him( and the room started to turn on him) , he promised to look

into getting the PUC hearings moved, and he promised to look

into getting the line moved, or stopping the project.

For whatever it's worth...

Welcome

Welcome to the first post of Saw Creek Estates Stop The Towers Blog. This blog is intended as a source of information for all those effected by PPL electric utilities proposed plan to upgrade the Susquehanna-Roseland power line. PPL and PSE&G are seeking regulatory permission to build a 99 mile power line starting from PPL's nuclear power-plant on the Susquehanna river in Berwick PA, and ending at a PSE&G's substation in Roseland, NJ. This line is going to be built with 190ft towers and carry over 1/2 million volts of electricity. It is going to destroy the quality of life for thousands in North East PA and Northern NJ. THIS CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN! Tune into this blog on a daily basis for updates and information relevant to the fight against PPL.

In the famous words of Public Enemy...... FIGHT THE POWER!!!!