Good morning ladies, gentlemen and Judge Anderson. I am here this morning to speak on case # PUE 970766, the 765 kV power line planned for Southwest Virginia. My name is Jeff McMillion; I live in the Hawks Heights Subdivision in Tazewell County with my wife and daughter. I’m a father, a husband, a homeowner and a taxpaying citizen of Tazewell County and the Commonwealth of Virginia. My home is also within 600 feet of the latest proposed corridor for the 765 kV line through Tazewell County. When the public hearings were held in June my family and I were not aware of the meetings or the proposed second route for this line. Our only daily "local newspaper" is from Bluefield West Virginia. They cover mostly West Virginia news, therefore we along with many others in our area, do not subscribe to this paper. AEP didn’t bother to advertise in the weekly Tazewell free press, where we would have been aware of their plans for our future! In the course of this battle with AEP I have met many taxpaying residents who knew nothing about these hearings, or even of AEP’s plan to run a 765 kV power line through our back yards. I have submitted a petition to the SCC with nearly 2000 signatures on it. These are people who could not all afford the hardship of traveling all the way to Richmond to speak before you today. It is a shame that residents of Southwest Virginia (a part of the Commonwealth) should have to drive 6 hours, miss a days work, pay for a hotel room, gas and food just to be heard by OUR own courts system. I am sure that many of these people would love to have had the chance to let you know their feelings on this power line plan. This hearing affects the lives of hard working people in Southwest Virginia, not the lawyers and people here in Richmond. These hearings should be held in one of the effected counties where the people can be heard fairly. Not everyone has millions of dollars to burn like AEP. It is a sad day when some corporate giant like AEP can try to take away everything my family and I have worked so hard for over the past 12 years and not even give us a fair chance to fight.
I have many concerns about this 765 kV power line. First and foremost I worry about the health of my family. I have done research on the effects of electromagnetic fields; I have seen reports on the devastating health problems these fields can cause especially in children. I realize that AEP claims that these reports don’t show proof that these lines cause cancer and leukemia, but AEP can’t show conclusive proof that they don’t cause these and other health problems. If you will remember, 20 years ago the cigarette companies said that their product was not addictive and did not cause cancer. We now know that the tobacco companies conspired to cover up research and falsified documents to prevent the truth from coming out. How are we to know that AEP is not doing the same thing to our neighborhood? Should I be willing to wait 20 years to find out the truth about the detrimental effects of these lines? Should I be willing to risk my health and the health of my family only to discover that there were risks that we were not told about? Another major concern for me is the herbicides that AEP uses to spray the corridor. These chemicals would be sprayed where rain would wash them into our well and water supplies. Next there is the noise generated by these lines, I have visited a similar 765 kV power line in Russell County, the noise would be unbearable 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. One of the things my wife and I love most about our home is sitting on our porch in the evening listening to birds sing. We love to sleep with our windows open at night and hear the crickets. If this proposed power line goes through, we wouldn’t even be able to open our windows without being assaulted by the constant humming and popping. My daughter couldn’t go out and play from morning till night in our yard like she does now in the summer. She couldn’t sleep in her tent in the yard anymore. She is also worried about the affect these lines would have on her pets. My family has spent countless hours in our yard, now AEP wants to take that away from us so that they can make a huge profit for their stockholders. Our home would be worth nothing if we tried to sell it. No one wants to move into an area where they could be endangering their family’s health and well being.
Now I would like to let you know what this proposed power line has done to my life: I have had to miss important things that my daughter has done this summer. I have had to tell her more times than I can count "Daddy can’t he has to go to a meeting". When I am home it is still constantly on my mind, I look out my window and visualize how all that we have worked so hard for could be lost if this line goes through. I have spent valuable time trying to fight this corporate Goliath AEP. Time that I could have spent with my family, time that I could have been watching my daughter grow up, time that my wife and I could have used to take a vacation or just time for the three of us to be together. And once again I am here in Richmond and my family is at home. AEP has ruined my summer and they are trying to ruin my future. As a parent and husband I am supposed to be the protector. I ask you how am I supposed to protect my family from this power line? AEP has billions of dollars to spend on advertisements and flying their attorneys to Richmond or where ever they are needed. They can spend endless amounts of money in an attempt to convince the SCC that they need these lines. They have their own reports done by their own experts. I recently spent some time in our Library looking at all of their reports, surveys, maps and pictures. By the time I left I realized that to AEP we are only a dot, square or mile marker on their map. We are something to be measured off and dealt with, not families with health concerns, children and property values to worry about. AEP can’t see past the bottom profit line to the heart of this matter. Instead they spend Billions of dollars to try and convince us that there will be catastrophic power outages without this line. I remember when West Virginia was going to have this same problem when they tried to force this line on them ten years ago. Last time I checked there is still power in West Virginia and no ominous outages have been forecast for them since they beat AEP. Congressman Rick Boucher has proposed numerous alternatives to the 765 kVline. AEP refuses to hear these alternatives because they would cut into their profits. They feel that it is worth risking our health, our well being and our future to make their profits grow. Looking back I wish that I had some stock in AEP, that way I would be able to believe their commercials when they say that they are "working hard to insure a better future" for me. AEP doesn’t care about my future; they don’t care about my family. They only care about getting their power to the East Coast where they can sell it for huge profits.
I also feel that AEP has rushed the current corridor through Tazewell County. Studies documented in their reports state that they were done by West Virginia University and Virginia Tech. I have yet to find anyone at either of these schools who have actually walked these corridors on the current route. They list only one house as "affected" and I feel that they have missed many of the natural springs and streams on East River Mountain. It seems that if AEP wanted to take the best route with this line; the first thing they would do is send in a team of experts to walk the line, not just fly over it in the corporate helicopter. I hope that the SCC will see this as we do. As a rush job to do what ever it takes to get this line through at any cost. I ask that you question beyond the glossy maps and fancy documentation to see what this is really about – MONEY. And why are they in such a hurry? Is it need? Or is it the fact that Virginia gas already has approval from the SCC to service our area? Is it the future deregulation and competition from other suppliers that will cause demand for electricity from AEP to decrease in the near future, costing them any chance of forcing this line through to the profit zone on the East Coast?
In closing I would like for you to consider the history of AEP. I am sure you are all too familiar with the way this company operates. In case #PUE 960301 the SCC forced AEP to refund over 50 million dollars to citizens of Virginia for over charging customers. Just recently the United States Department of Justice joined the states of New York and New Hampshire and a multitude of environmental organizations in suing AEP for continued gross violations of the Clean Air Act. I am here today fighting this Goliath of the 90’s AEP because I don’t trust AEP. I am not willing to risk my family’s health and future well being. I don’t believe the promises they make. I ask that you think of the honest, hard working families this power line will affect. In the long run it is our children who will have to pay the price for AEP’s greed. I ask that you consider the need for this line and the wide array of alternatives. Consider the future of natural gas in our area and deregulation generated competition for AEP. Finally is it need or is it greed? Thank you for your time and attention.