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A Calhoun County woman said she should not have needed to attend Thursday's hearings regarding the proposed Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline in Buckhannon, saying that the West Virginia Public Service Commission should have dismissed the permit application after Maryland rejected the project.

Loren Howley said it is a waste of taxpayers' and consumers' money to continue the public hearings because the consumers are paying the legal fees of Allegheny Energy and American Electric Power, the companies proposing to run the 765-kilovolt electrical transmission line from the John Amos plant in Putnam County across more than 200 miles of the state before reaching a substation in Kemptown, Md.

Howley also said the Maryland rejection means the project submitted by the power companies in the application process is no longer the project being considered.

"It has changed radically and no longer exists," she said before a capacity crowd inside the social hall at West Virginia Wesleyan College. "It's now a project that dangles between states."

Not necessarily, said Allegheny Energy manager for external communications Douglas Colafella. He said the company is working with the oversight organization in Maryland to iron out the perceived differences.

"We are evaluating our options," he said. "It's a critical piece of property. It's the juncture of several lines."

Colafella said the permit in Maryland was rejected on "a technicality," and he said those issues will soon be addressed.

"We are confident we will be able to work with (Maryland officials)," he said. "We have to move forward with this project."

Public Service Commissioners Jon McKinney and Ed Staats sat through nearly seven hours of testimony during two sessions Thursday. Slightly more than a dozen people spoke in favor of the proposed line that PJM officials say is necessary to ensure the reliability of the electrical power grid on the East Coast. Most of those speaking in favor of the proposal are affiliated in some way with the TrAIL electrical transmission project.

"This grid system, you have to look outside locally, and you have to look globally," said Morgantown resident Allison Staward, who said she works in the green technology industry. "You are creating a better road system for electricity. We are one country, and we're all in this together. If one area of the country needs help, we should help them and, in turn, be helped."

But the overwhelming majority of those who spoke before the commissioners criticized the project as not been a good fit for West Virginia. Many were bothered by the thought of paying an extra 56 cents per month on their electrical bills that will go to construct and maintain a line that takes power out of the state and to residents in the populated eastern cities.

"Why should we have to pay to have it in our back yard so they can have power?" asked Buckhannon resident Paul Kennedy. "If they want it, they should build it up there."

Daymon Jordon of Buckhannon said his house is about 3 miles away from the "yellow dotted lines on the maps." He said even with all of the emotional outcry surrounding the controversial power line, it still must be looked at as a business decision.

"You can't let emotion and sentiment get in the way," he said. "It's not a sound business plan; there are way too many unknowns."

He added that with Maryland's rejection of the project, coupled with Virginia in the process of denying the application, there is an uncertainty of an ending point for the power line.

"You would give them the proverbial pass to build the bridge to nowhere," Jordon said.

West Virginia House of Delegates members Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur; Peggy Donaldson Smith, D-Lewis; and Mary Poling, D-Barbour; all spoke against the PATH project, as did state Sen. Randy White, D-Webster.

Hamilton questioned why the power grid became so out of date, urging PSC investigators to closely scrutinize the power companies' balance sheets to check how much was spent on capital improvements and how much was paid out in bonuses and stock options to corporate big wigs.

"West Virginians are speaking loudly in their opposition to PATH," Howley said. "They expect their government to listen because that's how democracy works."

PSC investigators, which include private consultants, are expected to report their findings in November. Evidentiary hearings before the Public Service Commission are expected to be conducted in February.