"All truth passes through three stages.
First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed.
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860)
With this posting is where the fun begins. Now that the opponents to MAPP have been exposed as trying to pass on misleading arguments that are weak at best, and the ONLY means at their disposal for their opposition, it has come to my attention that the opposition is now trying to discredit the editor of Jonathan Travers Chronicles. Many people know and have heard the old adage, “If you cannot attach and counter argue the message, attack the messenger!!”
I have listed some of my favorites below:
1. There are those who say that the editor is a paid writer by Pepco.
Answer: While I take this as quite a complement as the litmus test to the quality of my writing, I have to say that this is not accurate in anyway, shape, or form. I sincerely thank you for the adulation though.
2. The opposition is questioning why I have only written about MAPPs and no other news.
Answer: This IS the most important and current NEWS that has the largest potential effect on local issues. If the citizens of Delmarva allow these weak and misleading arguments to jeopardize the quality and reliability of our electric power supply, then we all will suffer economically in so many ways emulating a third world country.
3. The opposition is also making speculative comments that the editor of the Jonathan Travers Chronicles is looking to gain personally from the new transmission line.
Answer: The only gain that the editor of Jonathan Travers Chronicles could ever receive is the same as everyone…..reliable and sustainable quality electric power replacing what will soon be lost.
So I will reiterate the important facts again for summation:
1. Most of the power that the Delmarva Peninsula has access to now is generated in the Philadelphia / Wilmington area. This electric generation is from coal, oil, and a nuclear power plant. The coal and oil power plants are being shut down in this area, much like Indian River coal power plant, so there will be a large loss in available generated electric power.
2. The current demand is greater than what will be left of the generation being produced in this area. To transport rail road cars full of coal or tankers of imported mid-east oil, is not cost effective nor competitive to the electric power generated in the Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, & Ohio where the source of fuel is located. I am speaking of coal and wind generated electric power that is currently available now.
In conclusion, no matter if you go with wind, solar, tidal, coal, oil, or nuclear……you are still going to need the transmission / distribution lines to make it available to where the demand is. This argument is a mute point as far as MAPP transmission line is concerned and the opposition knows this.
That is why the first argument tack is to fill peoples’ heads with incorrect or misleading information based on very little substance. This is why they speak of the "Lost Beauty of Dorchester." Again, all flash and no substance.
The second is to project speculative doubt on the one who is presenting the true facts of the issues that are going to affect the citizens of the Delmarva Peninsula. I have access to the exact same information and data as the people in opposition to MAPP. The exception is I have no problem presenting what the true results are.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Electric Generation From Renewable Energy Supplying The MAPP Transmission Line
I have heard many misinformed comments from those who oppose the MAPP transmission line. One of the questions is, “Why don’t we build windmills or other green energy sources instead of this MAPP transmission line to supply electric power to the Delmarva Peninsula.
(Click on the Map to make it larger)
With this being said, I would like to pass on this information with regards to Delmarva Power / Pepco. Currently renewable energy already represents about 4% of the generation demand required for the Mid-Atlantic area, and it is increasing each year. The above map shows where and what type of renewable energy projects are proposed for the future. The Delmarva Peninsula will benefit greatly from this renewable energy source with the MAPP transmission. By supporting the MAPP transmission line, you will be supporting renewable energy sources from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey. Now that is quite a decent area. This also gives an idea of how large the infrastructure grid is that the Delmarva Peninsula has access to and is supplied by.
Now in closing, I want to point out that no matter where or by what method the electric power is being generated, the power still needs transmission / distribution lines to bring the power to where it is needed.
(Click on the Map to make it larger)
With this being said, I would like to pass on this information with regards to Delmarva Power / Pepco. Currently renewable energy already represents about 4% of the generation demand required for the Mid-Atlantic area, and it is increasing each year. The above map shows where and what type of renewable energy projects are proposed for the future. The Delmarva Peninsula will benefit greatly from this renewable energy source with the MAPP transmission. By supporting the MAPP transmission line, you will be supporting renewable energy sources from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey. Now that is quite a decent area. This also gives an idea of how large the infrastructure grid is that the Delmarva Peninsula has access to and is supplied by.
Now in closing, I want to point out that no matter where or by what method the electric power is being generated, the power still needs transmission / distribution lines to bring the power to where it is needed.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Jonathan Travers Chronicles Response To The Star Democrat / Dorchester Star’s Articles Against the Mid-Atlantic Power Pathway Project.
I want to start off this news article posting with a quote from Thomas Jefferson that states, “He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.”
Now from my own viewpoint, “The success of a Democracy is based on the art of truth.”
This article is a Point / Counter-Point to recent articles published by the Star Democrat and the sister paper, Dorchester Star.
First off the Star Democrat’s article, ESLC launches campaign against Power Pathway; June 25, 2009 makes some misleading statements. The first example being, “The rights-of-way required for the lines would consume 650 acres of Dorchester’s agriculture, forest and rural lands.” The COUNTER POINT is that the right-of-ways required would still be agriculturally farmed. There are plenty right-of-ways examples around to see for yourself of existing 230kV and lower voltage power transmission lines that have crops growing directly underneath these power lines. The reference to the strip required for the forest land will provide the grass lands with new growth and vegetation that wildlife needs to feed on. The other reference to rural lands has a vague meaning to what they are referring to but no more room that the electric supporting pole structure would take up, surely very little rural lands will be taken up. So in conclusion to this statement, the farm land will still be farmed, wildlife will be supplied with a better food source areas to survive on, and nothing will be consumed as the Star Democrat’s statement makes.
Second statement by Morgan Elllis of the Regional Land Use Planner states, “If approved as proposed, this transmission line would completely and irrevocably alter the amazing rural character of Dorchester County.” The COUNTER POINT to this is, except for the relative short run from where the underwater power lines come up on the shoreline in Dorchester County to the Vienna site, the new 500kV transmission lines will be using the same right-of-ways of the existing 230kV or 138kV transmission lines so there will be no alterations to the rural character. Dorchester County is the largest land area county in Maryland and unless people take it upon themselves to drive and look at the power lines for themselves, the vast majority of the population in Dorchester will not even see this new power line pathway.
The article concludes with recommendations for saving energy and money. This is good advice for everyone no matter if you are for or against the MAPP power transmission line. Many towns are investigating replacing the existing street lights with new and more efficient inductive lighting or light emitting diode street lights. Bottom line here is, making better and more efficient use of the power supplied now is good, but it will still not make up for the amount of power required for future growth. So if the article is trying to make the statement that if you implement their suggestions and save energy, you will not need the electric power that will be supplied by MAPP; this is an inaccurate and misleading statement.
Moving onto Gail Dean’s article in the Dorchester Star published on June 19, 2009. In this piece the Editor printed, “Pepco Holdings, the power company including Delmarva Power, which has been told to build the line by the regional PJM power grid.”
Wow?!? Where to start with this? First off, there is no such thing as a “Regional PJM Power Grid." PJM simply stands for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland and the state of Delaware has now been included since its conception. PJM is an oversight committee made up of knowledgeable people in the industry but they do not tell power utilities to build anything. With their overall view of the mid-Atlantic region, they may foresee the need of additional electrical power in a largely fast growth area and make a recommendation that an area will need to be addressed before a real problem arises with power grid supply. It is up to the regional utilities to come up with how they want to approach, address, correct, and build the infrastructure power grid to make sure there is enough electrical power being supplied to a regional area.
There is one accurate statement made in the article when it was written that “Property owner's resistance will determine which of these routes will be the final route,” but if a conscience of one or another of these routes can not be reached, the Eminent Domain condemnation is something that could occur.
The sacrifice of the few for the betterment of the many.
Now from my own viewpoint, “The success of a Democracy is based on the art of truth.”
This article is a Point / Counter-Point to recent articles published by the Star Democrat and the sister paper, Dorchester Star.
First off the Star Democrat’s article, ESLC launches campaign against Power Pathway; June 25, 2009 makes some misleading statements. The first example being, “The rights-of-way required for the lines would consume 650 acres of Dorchester’s agriculture, forest and rural lands.” The COUNTER POINT is that the right-of-ways required would still be agriculturally farmed. There are plenty right-of-ways examples around to see for yourself of existing 230kV and lower voltage power transmission lines that have crops growing directly underneath these power lines. The reference to the strip required for the forest land will provide the grass lands with new growth and vegetation that wildlife needs to feed on. The other reference to rural lands has a vague meaning to what they are referring to but no more room that the electric supporting pole structure would take up, surely very little rural lands will be taken up. So in conclusion to this statement, the farm land will still be farmed, wildlife will be supplied with a better food source areas to survive on, and nothing will be consumed as the Star Democrat’s statement makes.
Second statement by Morgan Elllis of the Regional Land Use Planner states, “If approved as proposed, this transmission line would completely and irrevocably alter the amazing rural character of Dorchester County.” The COUNTER POINT to this is, except for the relative short run from where the underwater power lines come up on the shoreline in Dorchester County to the Vienna site, the new 500kV transmission lines will be using the same right-of-ways of the existing 230kV or 138kV transmission lines so there will be no alterations to the rural character. Dorchester County is the largest land area county in Maryland and unless people take it upon themselves to drive and look at the power lines for themselves, the vast majority of the population in Dorchester will not even see this new power line pathway.
The article concludes with recommendations for saving energy and money. This is good advice for everyone no matter if you are for or against the MAPP power transmission line. Many towns are investigating replacing the existing street lights with new and more efficient inductive lighting or light emitting diode street lights. Bottom line here is, making better and more efficient use of the power supplied now is good, but it will still not make up for the amount of power required for future growth. So if the article is trying to make the statement that if you implement their suggestions and save energy, you will not need the electric power that will be supplied by MAPP; this is an inaccurate and misleading statement.
Moving onto Gail Dean’s article in the Dorchester Star published on June 19, 2009. In this piece the Editor printed, “Pepco Holdings, the power company including Delmarva Power, which has been told to build the line by the regional PJM power grid.”
Wow?!? Where to start with this? First off, there is no such thing as a “Regional PJM Power Grid." PJM simply stands for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland and the state of Delaware has now been included since its conception. PJM is an oversight committee made up of knowledgeable people in the industry but they do not tell power utilities to build anything. With their overall view of the mid-Atlantic region, they may foresee the need of additional electrical power in a largely fast growth area and make a recommendation that an area will need to be addressed before a real problem arises with power grid supply. It is up to the regional utilities to come up with how they want to approach, address, correct, and build the infrastructure power grid to make sure there is enough electrical power being supplied to a regional area.
There is one accurate statement made in the article when it was written that “Property owner's resistance will determine which of these routes will be the final route,” but if a conscience of one or another of these routes can not be reached, the Eminent Domain condemnation is something that could occur.
The sacrifice of the few for the betterment of the many.
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