West Virginia has approved the "Trail" transmission line that will help relieve megawatt congestion in central Maryland, prevent blackouts and potentially alleviate high electricitiy prices. The project still needs lots of other approvals.

From the Charleston Gazette:

The state Public Service Commission late Friday approved Allegheny Energy's plans to build a huge electric transmission line that will stretch across much of Northern West Virginia.

Just hours before a midnight deadline, commissioners issued a "certificate of public convenience and necessity" for the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line, being promoted by Allegheny as TrAIL. The 500-kilovolt transmission line will run from southwestern Pennsylvania across West Virginia and into Northern Virginia.

From Marylanders for Reliable Power:

Calling it "a significant step in the right direction," Marylanders for Reliable Power spokesman H. Russell Frisby praised the decision of the West Virginia Public Service Commission, rendered August 1, 2008, to permit construction of TrAIL, the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line through 114 miles of West Virginia...

According to Frisby, "The construction of this line is a starting point for easing the region's badly congested power grid. The expansion of transmission capacity will allow economic devleopment and help to enture reliable electricity to one of the nation's fastest growing areas. However, it is only a start, and, unfortunately, it will not solve Maryland's critical electricity shortage."

From West Virginia Public Broadcasting:

Landowners along the proposed route fought the new transmission line, but earlier this year, officials with Allegheny Energy made two concessions that paved the way for PSC approval – they changed the route to more closely follow existing powerlines, and they agreed on a package of rate reductions negotiated in part by Governor Joe Manchin. The agreement also included a promise to move a transmissions operations center and dozens of jobs to West Virginia.

The fight isn’t over yet, though. Regulators in Virginia and Pennsylvania still have to approve the line, and the West Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club is planning to challenge the PSC decision in state Supreme Court.