Right-of-way acquisition, permitting and engineering are beginning on the West Virginia portion of a new 500-kV transmission line following approval by the state’s Public Service Commission. Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line Co., a subsidiary of Greensburg, Pa.-based Allegheny Energy Inc., won approval of the $850-million line’s West Virginia segment on Aug. 1 but cannot begin construction until the other states traversed by the line also approve. In late July, the hearing examiner in Virginia recommended that regulators there authorize construction of the Virginia segments, subject to approvals in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Decisions in all three states are expected by the end of the year. Construction is to be done by June 2011.