Regulators urge dismissal of PATH line
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA - Virginia regulators are recommending the dismissal of an application to build a $2 billion power line from West Virginia to Maryland.
A hearing examiner with the State Corporation Commission said that regulators should approve a motion to withdraw filed by American Electric Power and FirstEnergy Corp.
The utilities suspended the plan to build the 765-kilowatt line in February because PJM Interconnection, the group that oversees the electric grid for a 13-state region, forecasts weaker-than-expected demand for electricity in mid-Atlantic states and directed the companies to halt the project.
The 275-mile Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline PATH was to run from AEP's John Amos power station in Putnam County, West Virginia, 31 miles across three counties in northern Virginia, to a substation near Kemptown, Maryland. It was originally envisioned to meet expectations of growing demand for electricity in the region. Officials predicted that if the line wasn't built, the region would suffer from brownouts and blackouts.
The SCC must still issue a final order. West Virginia and Maryland regulators have already granted withdrawal requests.
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WASHINGTON - Hackers working for Russia were able to gain access to the control rooms of US electric utilities last year, allowing them to cause blackouts, federal officials tell the Wall Street Journal.
The hackers -- working for a state-sponsored group previously identified as Dragonfly or Energetic Bear -- broke into utilities' isolated networks by hacking networks belonging to third-party vendors that had relationships with the power companies, the Department of Homeland Security said in a press briefing on Monday.
Officials said the campaign had claimed "hundreds of victims" and is likely continuing, the Journal reported.
"They got to the point where they…
