This is an alternative to the proposed 300 mile overhead HVAC transmission line of which 46 miles will go into Frederick County.

Sugarloaf Conservancy is not against any power line, only the PATH project as it is proposed to be constructed. We need your help is stopping these towers from being built over 46 miles of Frederick County when there is a better way to achieve the same desired results.

Allegheny instead of seriously investigating viable alternatives to their proposed 765 kV HVAC line is through press releases and flyers is trying to confuse the the public and elected officials by making misleading statements.

As a result of Sugarloaf Conservancy’s challenge to Allegheny to commission an independent study, they requested a meeting with our group. We brought professor of Electrical Engineering who has written technical articles on HVDC as we had been told they would have a transmission engineer present. Instead of the engineer they brought their General Council. When we began to speak of HVDC they handed us a flyer on why HVDC would not work.

Over ½ page of the first page of the 2 page filer they talked about why HVAC buried would not work. We have never suggested that HVAC be buried.

We have gone away from locally generated power to bring in power long distances from areas that can generate less expensive power.

All customers throughout the region will pay more on their utility bills to pay for this line. Not just on the electricity used from this line.

There was a professional study performed on the cost advantages of adding a HVDC line instead of a HVAC line for the New York Regional Interconnect. The table below shows that the profit to the utility company would be over 2.5 times greater for a HVDC project (10.18 m$ compared to 26.28 m$). This is due to the overall increase in the amount of power that can flow through a HVDC line in comparison to a HVAC line.

If Allegheny would have sat down with us and had an honest exchange with valid objections we wouldn’t be here today. But I have here numerous articles that we gave to Allegheny defining the advances that have been made and the way costs have come down due to improvements in technology.