Transource event for contractors attracts about as many protesters
A meet-and-greet for potential contractors for the Independence Energy Connection drew about as many protesters as it did interested contractors Thursday night at the Clarion Inn and Suites in Chambersburg.
About 30 members of Stop Transource Franklin County stood alongside Walker Road behind the hotel holding signs and banners.
“We want the community and the people coming as potential vendors to know we are still fighting this project and it’s not wanted in the community,” said Karri Benedict, local organizer of Stop Transource Franklin County, a grassroots group formed to stop the project from moving forward.
Transource is the company hired by PJM Interconnection to construct the Independence Energy Connection — a project designed to reduce congestion on the regional transmission grid and create access to low-cost electricity for customers in “power zones” across the Mid-Atlantic.
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Transource’s portion of the project is expected to include approximately 29 miles of new 230kV overhead electric transmission line and the construction of two new substations in Franklin and York counties in Pennsylvania and Washington County, Maryland.
Transource officials claim the project would solve reliability violations in both states that, if not built, would require a new solution before 2023.
Last month, Transource announced it had hired Harlan Electric, of Harrisburg, to be the line contractor for the project, despite the fact that the project has yet to be approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
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Harlan representatives were on hand Thursday to meet more than 30 potential subcontractors, who came from as near as Chambersburg to as far away as Ohio and Roanoke, Virginia.
“We do our best to work with local contractors, so it’s great to be able to meet local contractors and build partnerships,” said Jim Begley, Harlan Electric district manager. “The face-to-face is just the tip of it. We do extensive contractor vetting, but a lot of time, you don’t get this experience before a bid.”
The project is still going through the regulatory review process before the PUC, and the Office of Consumer Advocate plans two additional evidentiary hearings on May 19 and 20.
If approved, project construction is expected to begin this year and is projected to support 130 full-time jobs and inject approximately $40 million into the local economies.
Andrea Rose is a Gannett reporter based in Waynesboro.