As the public begins weighing in on the route the proposed PATH project will take, those who want to build that line are touting its need.

"Our planning studies, fed by load forecast, indicate than in 2014 and 2015 we're going to see problems with our transmission system in this region," said American Electric Power's Project Leader Archie Pugh in an interview Monday with MetroNews.  

On Monday, reporters were shown a power line right of way where an aging 765 kilovolt line currently runs.  The rolling hills served as a pasture field for the landowner while the power lines hummed above, filled with energy. 

Pugh says they make every possible effort to protect the landowner and treat them well.  He says all landowners who grant an easement to the company are compensated according to the assessment rate of the total acreage consumed.   

The PATH project is proposed to start at the John Amos Power Plant in Putnam County and stretch across the heart of West Virginia to a substation planned for Hardy County near Moorefield.  The route from there would go into Franklin County, Virginia, back into Jefferson County, West Virginia and then on across the border into Maryland.

However, the power it will carry doesn't come exclusively from Amos.

"It's key to come out of the station beside John Amos because that's a major 765 kilovolt substation," explained Pugh.  "But if John Amos is out for maintenance or out for whatever reason, the energy that will flow for PATH will come from other generators."

Pugh and other officials say, at this point, they have the rough map of the route for PATH and, so far, have not sought to purchase any easements or rights of way.  He says all they are asking landowners for presently is access to the land to survey.

The footprint may be 2,000 feet, but within that proposed route, the company has flexibility to move the line at the request of the landowner.

We'll have more on the PATH project throughout the week on The Morning News.