Officials from the state, Allegheny Power, and Washington and Greene counties have filed a settlement agreement with the state Public Utility Commission to forestall the construction of a new high-voltage power line in the area.

The group, which includes the state Office of Consumer Advocate and the Office of Trial Staff for the PUC, along with a local citizens' group, had been working for the past six months to come up with an equitable solution to address increased energy needs in Washington County. The county objected to the initial proposal for a new power station and 500-kilovolt power line.

The power-line proposal, unveiled two years ago, was met with stiff resistance and lawsuits from residents in Greene and Washington counties. They claimed the project was unnecessary and that it constituted a back-door attempt to ship cheap coal-fired power from the Ohio Valley to the energy-strapped mid-Atlantic region.

The company said the new line -- which was to run 36 miles from a new substation in Dunkard, Greene County, to another new facility called "Prexy" in North Strabane, Washington County -- was needed to address expanding energy needs in the coming years and to reinforce the nation's power grid.

Allegheny Power and Greene County commissioners came up with an agreement of their own last year that called for the county to support a power station and 1.2-mile power line in Dunkard, called the 502 Junction, in exchange for return of easements to property owners, abandonment of the 36-mile line plan, and a $750,000 payment to the county's general fund.

The PUC approved that settlement, and ordered the rest of the parties to come to an agreement with the company within six months.

The collaborative group met six times since December, and came up with a solution that includes a new steel pole to be erected in Bethel Park, near the junction of Limestone Drive and the Montour Trail.

The pole will be used to connect existing power lines from Peters and Bethel Park, which are owned by Allegheny Power, to several others owned by Duquesne Light.

The construction of five new capacitors at existing power stations also is included in the settlement agreement, reached earlier this month and forwarded to the PUC on Monday.

"The solution offered in the settlement will solve the reliability issues that were driving the need for the previously proposed Prexy facilities, will be much less intrusive to the environment, and will cost much less," said a press release from the Energy Conservation Council of Pennsylvania, the project's most vocal critic.

The estimated cost to the company is $11.6 million. It is still planning to go forward with a nearly $1 billion companion project to link West Virginia and Virginia through a new 200-mile power line.