Morgantown Council opposes MARL

Dominion Post

3 days ago

MORGANTOWN — In an odd bit of sequencing, Morgantown City Council voted 6-0 Tuesday to add its voice to those opposing the MidAtlantic Resiliency Link power transmission project.
Even so, members of the body said they would like to hear from representatives on both sides of the issue – including project developer NextEra – to help raise awareness of the project.
Whether NextEra will be willing to make that commitment remains to be seen.
The MidAtlantic Resiliency Link, or MARL, is a 105-mile 500-kV transmission line that is looking at Monongalia, and surrounding counties, as potential routes from Greene County, Pa., to Frederick County, Va.
The city's resolution came about two weeks after the Monongalia County Commission joined Preston, Hampshire, Jefferson and Mineral counties in publicly opposing transmission projects that will – to paraphrase the county's resolution – use West Virginia's landscape as flyover country and return little to no real benefit to West Virginia or its residents.
Monongalia County resident Judy Delagarza said the project is particularly galling in that Virginia's power generation facilities are being scaled down in favor of clean energy. Instead, West Virginia farms and forested land will be cleared to make way for a 100-mile extension cord connecting fossil fuels to power hungry data centers in northern Virginia.
A data center is a physical room, building or facility that houses IT infrastructure for building, running and delivering online applications and services. The facilities are the backbone of our always-online existence and have power requirements on par with entire metropolitan areas in some instances.
Northern Virginia is the data center hub of the East Coast. As of 2023, data centers accounted for more than one quarter of the state's electricity consumption according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
As Virginia's data centers require more power, the Virginia Clean Economy Act signed into law in 2020 requires the state to move to 100% carbon-free energy production within 50 years.
'Virginia has passed ordinances and laws, whatever, for their clean energy, so they don't have enough energy. In addition, they're allowing all these data centers to be built in northern Virginia. That is the reason we need more energy,' Delagarza said. 'West Virginia is being asked to bear the burden of Virginia's mistakes.'
Morgantown is not in any of the proposed transmission routes proposed by NextEra. Deputy Mayor Brian Butcher, who initiated the city resolution, explained Tuesday's vote was one of solidarity with the county and region.
The resolution says the major transmission lines would negatively impact the county's property values, agriculture, tourism and natural beauty while providing a marginal increase in tax revenue ultimately offset by utility rate increases implemented to subsidize the project's construction.
Butcher was among the councilors who said they would like to hear from NextEra and others – both for and against – in an effort to raise awareness about the project.
'It's an important issue and it's obviously going to affect our constituents,' Councilor Mark Downs said. 'The state's beauty is one of our greatest assets. How many times have you met someone who's been in town because they've been hiking at Cooper's Rock or using the rail-trail or any of our amenities that are outside city limits, but they're staying at the Hotel Morgan, or they're staying at the Marriott? It impacts us.'