Judge: Transource can enter properties in Franklin County

(Chambersburg) — Franklin County property owners have had their say in court, but Transource Energy land agents will be allowed on their properties to prepare for a proposed high voltage transmission line.

Franklin County Court Judge Todd Sponseller has ruled Transource has the right to immediate entry on properties for surveying and testing.

“He has to do his job,” Lori Rice, president of StopTransource Franklin County, told a reporter after the decision. “He has to follow the law. The law is not written to protect property owners.”

Sponseller’s ruling came after two days of hearings where testimony often drifted to the general rights of property owners.

“We pay taxes, care for the land. If we don’t have a say in that, it’s sad state of affairs,” said Aaron Kauffman, who operates his family’s farm near Shippensburg.

Rice objected to having strangers on the farm where she homeschools her two younger children. She also worried that Transource might break biosecurity rules with unclean equipment.

Transource anticipates starting construction in 2019 on the Independence Energy Connection – two transmission lines in southern Pennsylvania that will bring cheaper electricity chiefly to consumers in the Baltimore-Washington area.

Transource has a limited time in which to survey for bog turtles this spring. Farmers meanwhile have planted crops for the season.

James Kutz, a Harrisburg attorney representing Transource, tried to corner farm owner Rice into acknowledging that Transource must come onto her farm in the spring to survey for the turtles.

 “Your timeline is not my timeline,” Rice said.

Transource has proposed erecting 13-story-tall monopoles for a 29-mile line through Franklin County and a 16-mile line in southern York County. Residents in both counties have organized to fight the project. The utility sued 24 Franklin County and 36 York County landowners to gain access to their properties.

The legal tussles in the county courts foreshadow battles to come. Transource needs approval from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

Rice indicated that the opposition has staying power. The farm she owns with her husband, Allen, is a multi-million-dollar operation and “the largest on the East Coast.”

“I’m defending what I do and what my husband has done every day of his life,” she said. “We don’t work in a corner office and put something down on paper. We are the do-ers.”

Kutz argued that Transource is caught in a dilemma. Property owners will not allow Transource agents onto their land to conduct studies. The same landowners, as part of StopTransource, are arguing to the PUC that Transource has failed to completely study the route.

“It’s whipsaw,” Kutz said. “It’s not fair.”

Kutz also tried to establish that Transource notified landowners in the fall and that they could have granted permission for site visits in the winter.

Several landowners indicated they were not prepared to deal with the issue then.

The proposed transmission line would go right over the top of the hill where Allan Stine proposes building his retirement house.

“They’re going to put a 120-foot right of way right where I’ve wanted to go for 20 years,” Stine testified. “You plan something for 20 years. I’m 62. I plan to retire next year. If they have their way my retirement plans are up in smoke. Time will tell.”

Stine said he stopped opening Transource letters.

“I did get letters,” Stine said. “I got so many I just started putting them in a pile.”

Landowner Karri Benedict did not answer the telephone.

“I’m sure you understand in this day and age, a lot of times if you don’t know who’s calling you don’t answer,” she said.

Mark Freed, a Doylestown attorney representing the landowners, asked that the judge require Transource to post a bond for its work. Sponseller declined, stating that damages are already provided for in the law.

Freed also asked the judge to delay test drilling until fall or winter. Sponseller did not specifically address the request, but ruled that Transource could enter propeorties immediately, having already given more than the required 10 days’ notice.

Robert O’Brien, a York attorney representing Patriot Federal Credit Union, questioned Transource’s good faith in negotiations with landowners. He noted that a right-of-access form that Transource gave to property owners to sign would have limited the company’s liability to only damages resulting from negligence, and not from intentional damage.

“We don’t intend to damage property,” Ernie Basham, supervisor for Western Land Services, a land agency hired by Transource. “Why would someone do that?”

“Intentional or unintentional, we will compensate for any damage,” Stephen Stein said. “We will damage crops, and will compensate for that.”

Of nearly 80 properties that Transource has surveyed, five had claims of damage, according to Basham. Damages were settled for $350 to $500 each.

Farmers testifying on Tuesday indicated that soil and crops can be damaged for up to five years. Heavy equipment used to drill test holes can compact soil besides ruining the crop in the spot for the year. Transource makes to hole to test for a foundation of a 13-story monopole.

“We really don’t have this much trouble getting access for normal surveys,” Stein told the judge.

The courtroom provided landowners with a soapbox.

Landowner Stine represented himself in court.

Transource has “got to realize the line is not doing the people of Franklin County any good,” he said. “It’s not going to do me any good. All it’s going to do is to devalue my property,”

The proceeding did not rule on condemnation of any land for the proposed transmission line. That would be a later issue for county court should the PUC approve the line. Transource must complete land and environmental studies for its application to the PUC.

The PUC has scheduled public hearings in Franklin County hearings on Tuesday, May 22, and Wednesday, May 23, at the New Franklin Fire Department Social Hall, 3444 Wayne Road, Chambersburg. Hearings will be held at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. on both dates.

PJM Interconnect, which manages the electrical grid in 13 Mid-Atlantic states, contracted Transource to do the $320 million project. Transource is a partnership between American Electric Power and Great Plains Energy. The project is expected tosave ratepayers $622 million in 15 years. Dominion Energy, Baltimore Gas and Electric and PEPCO will pay for more than three-fourths of the project.

This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The Chambersburg Public Opinion.