County 'disappointed' over backing for power line plan

Rappahannock County’s efforts to forestall building of a new, high-voltage electrical transmission line across the eastern portion of the county received a serious blow Monday as a state hearing examiner recommended approval of Dominion Virginia Power Company’s controversial project.

The recommendation of the State Corporation Commission hearing examiner goes next to the full commission, which may accept, modify or reject the recommendation. The commission relies heavily on the hearing examiner’s report and the case record to issue a final order.

In a report filed Monday, Hearing Examiner Alexander F. Skirpan Jr., found that the construction of the transmission line on company-owned right-of-way "is necessary to serve northern Virginia and resolve overloads projected to occur on an existing 500 kilovolt transmission line beginning in 2011," according to an SCC news release.

Rappahannock County, the Piedmont Environmental Council and other opponents had intervened in the case to oppose the proposed transmission line on grounds that it was not needed and would damage the environment and property values. PEC said it was disappointed at the hearing examiner’s recommendation and would urge the full SCC to reject it.

Rappahannock County Administrator John McCarthy said he and the Board of Supervisors were "disappointed but not terribly surprised" at the official’s recommendation. The county formally opposed the project and hired outside counsel to argue against its construction through Rappahannock in the SCC hearings.

McCarthy said there is one aspect of the hearing examiner’s recommendation that is somewhat "gratifying," however. In his report, Skirpan recommended that the SCC locate the new transmission line "partially or wholly within existing transmission right-of-way for the entire path in Virginia."

If the SCC embraces that recommendation, McCarthy said, it may mean that Dominion will take only 60 feet of additional right-of-way along the existing line, rather than 100 feet. That narrower right-of-way may require the utility to remove the existing lattice-work towers and replace them with two parallel lines of tall monopoles, which are less visually intrusive, McCarthy suggested.

Skirpan, who presided over a lengthy series of public hearings on the proposed line, accepted the utility’s basic case that the project was needed to serve the growing appetite for electric power in Northern Virginia, and that the best route for the line is a meandering, southerly route along existing utility right-of-way through Warren, Rappahannock, Culpeper, Fauquier and Prince William counties.

The hearing examiner concluded that "the use of existing right-of-way will have less of an impact on historical and cultural assets," the SCC said. The southerly route is 28 miles longer and would cost $60 million more to build than a direct route paralleling Interstate 66 through the more populous areas of Northern Virginia, where the proposal stirred strong political opposition.

Building the transmission line through Rappahannock County would involve constructing a second set of 120-foot tall transmission towers along an existing right-of-way that cuts across the eastern portion of the county. This would be part of a 93-mile segment of the high-voltage line that runs from the Virginia-West Virginia border in Frederick County to a substation in Loudoun County.

This Virginia segment is the eastern end of a proposed 240-mile line that originates in Southwestern Pennsylvania and continues through West Virginia and Virginia. The SCC hearing examiner recommended that the Commission condition approval of the Virginia segment on approval of the line in those states also.

PEC said it was "disappointed in the recommendation" and will urge the SCC to reject the proposed transmission line. It asserted the hearing examiner gave "every benefit of the doubt" to the utilities proposing the line.

"If the SCC Commissioners follow the Hearing Examiner’s recommendation, Dominion will be able to condemn private land and public values and pass on the costs to ratepayers for a project that is more about increasing utility profits than meeting reliability needs efficiently," PEC said.

"This matter has always been a David v. Goliath challenge for PEC," said Christopher Miller, President of PEC. "We fully intend to pursue all of our opportunities for comment and appeal."

Another local opposition group, the Powerline Landowners Alliance, vowed to continue to fight the proposed transmission line. PLA "is deeply disappointed with the hearing examiner’s ruling," said Gale Johnson, Chairman of the PLA Board of Directors, "But the hearing examiner’s report is not the last word on the issue of the power line. The PLA will continue to participate as the matter goes forward with the goal of defeating the power line."

PLA is an unincorporated association of landowners and their supporters in Culpeper, Fauquier and Rappahannock counties.

Whatever happens, there is likely to be more litigation even after the full SCC rules, McCarthy predicted. "I don’t believe this is over by any stretch of the imagination," he said, suggesting that PEC is likely to appeal the SCC decision in the courts.