A meeting scheduled at Calhoun Middle/High School regarding The Valley North Transmission Line Project, which is a proposed 260‑mile, 765kV line connecting West Virginia and Maryland to serve growing electricity demand elsewhere (notably data centers) — not to power Calhoun or its neighbors. One of the projects under discussion is a proposed 765kV transmission line — the largest AC line in the country — running from the John Amos coal plant in Putnam County, WV to Virginia’s data center corridor, proposed jointly by FirstEnergy, American Electric Power, and Dominion Energy, and set to cross 14 WV counties including Calhoun.
It’s part of a bigger tour of meetings
This wasn’t a one-off — it’s one stop on a series. A Calhoun County session is scheduled for July 22, 2026 from 4–7:30 p.m. at Calhoun County Middle-High School, with similar meetings happening the same week in Preston, Gilmer, Braxton, Grant, Kanawha, Roane, and Jackson counties. These meetings are open to the public.
At a similar meeting in Preston County, organizers from a group called West Virginians Against Transmission Infrastructure (WATI) raised concerns about impact on property values, potentially higher electric bills, and environmental impacts, and offered residents guidance on registering for “intervener status” in the case before the state Public Service Commission. The organizer’s argument: even homeowners who won’t have a tower in their backyard will still end up paying for the infrastructure through their rates.
