July 27, 2020 – Some of you may remember Keryn Newman of StopPATH, who was very helpful and supportive of RAGE’s efforts.
She and Alison Haverty were on a 6-year odyssey that not only stop an unwanted transmission project but caught the utility company’s hand in the cookie jar and successfully pursued a refund on behalf on many ratepayers because their utility company were misallocating certain marketing and advertising expenses for that project that should not be categorized as a recoverable expense.
In an amazing story, they convinced FERC administrative judge to rule in their favor and granted $12 millions of refund back to ratepayers. As ratepayers in the PJM region, we have indirectly benefited from their action.
Keryn has been an amazing trailblazer and has continued her crusade by helping and supporting many grassroots groups opposing transmission projects across the US. She was the driving force behind the recent comments submitted by Consumer Organization Groups to FERC against the sweetening of financial incentives for transmission projects.
Unfortunately, the appointed Commissioners of FERC during Trump’s administration decided to reverse this decision and recently issued an order for the failed Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline (“PATH”) company to recollect the $12 million that has been refunded.
Keryn and Ali felt that they have no choice but to appeal this reversal in court and will probably incur more $5,000 in out-of-pocket expenses including a $500 filing fee. They started fundraising for this over the weekend.
Please donate to this very worthy cause by clicking on the GoFundMe link below - every little bit helps.
Link: https://gf.me/u/yikxjy
If you have the time, you can also read about their very interesting story in the link.
Thank you,
Kin Gee
