Gov. Joe Manchin said Tuesday he hopes to tax new high-voltage transmission lines and use part of the revenue to offset electricity rate hikes that fund construction of such projects.

Manchin repeated his plans to introduce legislation to create a new "transmission tax" that would provide new revenue for the state and for counties where the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line would be located.

Manchin first announced that proposal in May, but on Monday warned Allegheny Energy and other parties to get behind his plan.

"I'm not in support of [the power line] until I see benefits for the people," the governor said in an interview Tuesday afternoon.

Earlier Tuesday, a news release from the governor's office hinted that Manchin would fight the $1.1 billion TrAIL project unless developer Allegheny Energy supported his tax legislation.

"I will not object to this power line if all parties agree to move forward with this legislation which will make sure that West Virginians benefit from the placement of the line," the news release quoted the governor as saying.

Lara Ramsburg, Manchin's communications director, said the governor was referring mostly to the bully pulpit of his office, but would not rule out some legal effort by the state should the legislation be opposed.

"An objection from him - he can publicly object more than the average citizen can object and can get a little more attention," Ramsburg said. "We would rather not get to the point where we have to look at what the [legal] options will be."

Manchin discussed the power line issue in Martinsburg, after apparently meeting with officials from some of the counties where TrAIL would be located.

On Friday night, the state Public Service Commission approved Allegheny's plans to build the 120-mile, 500-kilovolt-line across eight counties from north of Morgantown and into Northern Virginia.

Originally, Allegheny had proposed rate hikes of about $9.6 million a year, or about 90 cents per month for an average customer, to pay for TrAIL. Under a federal ruling, those rate hikes also would apply to customers of other West Virginia utilities, such as American Electric Power.

Phased-in rate hikes could have started as early as January 2009. However, Allegheny agreed to delay any rate hikes related to TrAIL until at least January 2014, under a settlement with PSC staff and the agency's consumer advocate.

Gov. Joe Manchin said Tuesday he hopes to tax new high-voltage transmission lines and use part of the revenue to offset electricity rate hikes that fund construction of such projects.

Manchin repeated his plans to introduce legislation to create a new "transmission tax" that would provide new revenue for the state and for counties where the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line would be located.

Manchin first announced that proposal in May, but on Monday warned Allegheny Energy and other parties to get behind his plan.

"I'm not in support of [the power line] until I see benefits for the people," the governor said in an interview Tuesday afternoon.

Earlier Tuesday, a news release from the governor's office hinted that Manchin would fight the $1.1 billion TrAIL project unless developer Allegheny Energy supported his tax legislation.

"I will not object to this power line if all parties agree to move forward with this legislation which will make sure that West Virginians benefit from the placement of the line," the news release quoted the governor as saying.

Lara Ramsburg, Manchin's communications director, said the governor was referring mostly to the bully pulpit of his office, but would not rule out some legal effort by the state should the legislation be opposed.

"An objection from him - he can publicly object more than the average citizen can object and can get a little more attention," Ramsburg said. "We would rather not get to the point where we have to look at what the [legal] options will be."

Manchin discussed the power line issue in Martinsburg, after apparently meeting with officials from some of the counties where TrAIL would be located.

On Friday night, the state Public Service Commission approved Allegheny's plans to build the 120-mile, 500-kilovolt-line across eight counties from north of Morgantown and into Northern Virginia.

Originally, Allegheny had proposed rate hikes of about $9.6 million a year, or about 90 cents per month for an average customer, to pay for TrAIL. Under a federal ruling, those rate hikes also would apply to customers of other West Virginia utilities, such as American Electric Power.

Phased-in rate hikes could have started as early as January 2009. However, Allegheny agreed to delay any rate hikes related to TrAIL until at least January 2014, under a settlement with PSC staff and the agency's consumer advocate.

Allegheny spokesman Allen Staggers said no new estimates of the potential rate hikes have been prepared.

Manchin said Monday that preliminary estimates show his transmission tax could raise more than $50 million a year.

About half of that money, Manchin said, would be used to give tax refunds to residents to offset any rate hikes approved to fund TrAIL.

The tax refunds would equal twice the rate hikes, Manchin said, to not only avoid rate hikes but actually provide residents the equivalent of a power bill reduction.

The other half of the tax would be split, with half going to the state and the other half divided among counties where the power line is located, Manchin said.

Manchin said he's discussed the proposal with Allegheny Energy and hopes that they will support it.

"My preliminary talks have been fine, but we'll see if they publicly support this," the governor said.

Back in October 2006, Manchin had offered his unqualified support for TrAIL and for a second, much larger power line that American Electric Power wants to build from the John Amos power plant to Martinsburg.

Both projects "are complimentary, and together would resolve the vast majority of congestion problems identified ... as one of the most critical in the United States," Manchin said in a letter to the Department of Energy. Manchin said that he and his staff had "reviewed both of these projects and spoken at length with AEP and [Allegheny] officials regarding the benefits of the lines - benefits to the citizens of West Virginia, as well as millions of citizens of other states."

Later, in May 2007, Manchin complained about a federal law that could have overruled any decision by West Virginia to reject a new transmission line. The governor also complained about a federal decision that rate increases for TrAIL should be applied to all customers in a region, not just those to whom the power line carries electricity.

The governor said that rate scheme would "unduly shift a disproportionate share of the cost ... away from those customers receiving the electricity in the greater Washington, D.C., area to ratepayers in West Virginia, where those lines will be predominantly sited."

"We've always done the heavy lifting, and we'll always do the heavy lifting," Manchin said Monday, "but there's got to be a better way. There's got to be some benefit for the state."

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 348-1702.