In a 42-page opinion handed down on Tuesday, the three-judge State Corporation Commission said the line was needed to ensure reliability of electric service to to the power-hungry region. But they made their approval contingent on approval by utility regulators in Pennsylvania, which have not yet approved the line.

The Piedmont Environmental Council, which led opposition to the 500-kilovolt line, expressed outrage.

“This is not the best solution for Virginia or necessarily for the mid-Atlantic,” said Chris Miller, PEC president. “It’s simply the outcome of a system that is biased toward building transmission.”

The line is part of a 240-mile transmission corridor proposed jointly by Dominion and Pennsylvania-based Allegheny Power. Once completed, it would begin in Pennsylvania, cross parts of West Virginia and slice through five Virginia counties before terminating at a substation in Loudoun County.

James P. Gannon is editor of rappvoice.com