UPDATE | Regulators deny FirstEnergy’s transmission line expansion in Youngstown

Following strong local pushback, the Ohio Power Siting Board has denied a $23 million expansion of FirstEnergy Corp. high-tension power lines in Youngstown.

City officials said the project would have set back plans for recreational development along the Mahoning River into which the city and private partners have invested millions of dollars.

Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown thanked the board for the decision Thursday.

“Youngstown, Ohio, wants what every other community wants across the state of Ohio. Many of the agencies and organizations that we have been partnering with have been investing in Youngstown, Ohio,” he said. “This [decision] further helps us continue with not only what we’ve invested today, but our future investment into our community.

“You’re helping continue to spur not just today, but tomorrow. … You don’t realize how important this is.”

American Transmission Systems Inc., a FirstEnergy subsidiary, applied in August to install a new 138 kV electric transmission line that would span about 5 miles from its Lincoln Park substation on the city’s East Side through Campbell and to its Riverbend substation, to improve utility reliability in the city.

But the proposed line would have cut behind recreational landmarks in the city, including Wean Park, the new $10 million Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre and the Covelli Centre.

In its application, ATSI claimed the project would not have a significant impact on recreational land uses in the area, nor would it conflict with the city’s development plan. It added the project “would support future economic development in the area.”

But it did note “varied visual impact” on the aesthetics of the area, depending on the landscape.

Siting board Chair Jenifer French said the board’s decision found ATSI could not demonstrate that the project could meet requirements for public need, convenience and necessity, as required by state law. Projects like transmission lines should also “consider the impact to recreation, cultural resources, regional planning and the prosperity to the local community and the state of Ohio,” she said.

“The decision before us today does, however, find that there is a demonstrated need to upgrade the electric transmission grid in the Youngstown-Campbell area and encourages the developer to work with the local community to come up with a new plan,” French said.

FirstEnergy has 30 days to appeal the decision.

‘Right project; wrong location’

Eric Ryan, president of JAC Management Group, which operates the entertainment venues that would have been impacted by the project, said it would have been “catastrophic” to downtown development.

“It would have been a travesty had this been allowed to go through and, quite honestly, if you asked me this morning what I thought our chances were, I thought they were 50-50,” Ryan told Mahoning Matters. “It’s very difficult to get through to a sitting board that sits in Columbus, Ohio, that may never step foot on the property.

“Really, it was the right project; wrong location.”

The most obvious issue was the “eyesore” it would have created, Ryan said. But JAC was also concerned about electromagnetic interference affecting stage equipment. The proposed lines would have hung just above the amphitheater’s backstage area for performers.

Had the project gone through as planned, this July’s Y-Live concert would have been the first and the last at Wean Park, he said.

“You can’t put a dollar figure on the unsightliness of it, and you can’t put a dollar figure on what it would have done to our business,” Ryan said.

Ryan also claimed the project would have cut off complete access to the Mahoning River, which is being targeted for recreational development. The city opted to intervene in the board’s pending case in March, arguing the project would “set back all plans to continue the riverfront development” in the city.

Ryan credited the city’s vocal opposing coalition with reaching the decision makers in the state’s capital.

State Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan of Youngstown, D-58th, joined the city’s 1st Ward Councilman Julius Oliver and Derrick McDowell, founder of the Youngstown Flea, at Wean Park on Thursday as the siting board met.

“Youngstown is united in fighting for our beautiful downtown. This is our time for revitalization and our moment to rejuvenate this far-too-often overlooked community,” Lepore-Hagan is quoted in a Thursday news release. “Utilities have far too much power in Columbus. I am so thankful our community stepped up, came together and showed we are powerful and we will not be kicked around.”

Lepore-Hagan recently invited state Rep. Jeffrey Crossman of Parma, D-15th, a nonvoting member of the siting board, to see how the riverfront could be impacted by the project.

“We think the board made the correct decision after hearing from us,” Crossman is quoted in the release. “This project, as currently designed by FirstEnergy, did not meet the needs of the community and, if it had been approved, would have damaged the beautiful downtown recreational facilities that the community worked so hard to build.”

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, also wrote the siting board last month, urging members to reject the proposal.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, D-Ohio, also pleaded against the project later that month.

“I am pleased to see that the Ohio Siting Power Board has listened to and sided with the residents of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley and rejected this proposal that would have hurt current downtown investments, and stymied future development plans,” Brown is quoted in a Thursday news release. “I urge the developer to work with the local residents and businesses they serve to find an alternate route for this important grid modernization project that works for the entire community.”

This story was originally published May 19, 2022 at 2:12 PM.