Towering threat: Rappahannock County added to power-line transmission corridor
By James P. Gannon
Rappahannock County has been added to a proposed “national interest electric transmission corridor” for new, high-voltage power lines planned by two regional utilities–a designation that would give the Federal government sweeping authority to site the electric lines over historic areas, Civil War battlefields and even land protected by conservation easements.
Initially, Rappahannock was not included in the area for the power-line corridor, according to County Administrator John McCarthy, but the proposal by PJM Interconnection–the operator of a regional transmission grid–was amended in October to include Rappahannock, Culpeper and other counties. McCarthy informed the Board of Supervisors at its November meeting that Rappahannock had been added to the “study area” for the transmission lines, which require huge, unsightly steel towers standing 125-150 feet high, to carry 500 Kilovolts of power to feed power-hungry Northern Virginia.
“They have moved line of the study area south from where it had been before,” when Rappahnannock was not included, McCarthy told The Rappahannock Voice. He said that he is “not personally worried” that the eventual route of the new transmission line will actually cross Rappahannock County, “but I am worried about them (utilities) being able to override easements and state and local jurisdictions.”
Two area electric utilities–Allegheny Power and Dominion Virginia Power–plan to build a 240-mile, high-voltage transmission line from southwestern Pennsylvania through eastern West Virginia into Northern Virginia, where sprawling growth is spurring rapid increases in electricity demand, straining utilities’ capacities. The two utilities are in the process of studing where to locate the line over the Blue Ridge Mountains into the densely populated area of the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC.
The Piedmont Environmental Council has launched a major campaign against building the transmission line, and Rep. Frank Wolf, the veteran congressman representing Virginia’s 10th district, which includes much of suburban Virginia, has taken a strong stand opposing any construction of the line in his district. Wolf’s district includes Warren County, just north of Rappahannock, but not Rappahannock County–which is in the district of Rep. Eric Cantor, a conservative Republican who may be more friendly to the project.
Don Loock, the PEC’s land conservation officer for Rappahannock County, agreed with McCarthy that this county does not appear to lie in the most logical route for the power-line corridor, but noted that the utilities are just in the early stage of planning. “There is no telling where the power line will be sited,” he said. But adding Rappahannock County to the proposed transmission corridor “just loosens up the area” of possible siting and exposes Rappahannock to risk, he said.
What makes the risk for Rappahannock and other counties in the proposed corridor even higher is the new authority granted to the federal Energy Department in an energy policy law passed by Congress in 2005. That law authorized the Energy Department to create “national interest electric transmission corridors” in which the Federal government would have power to over-ride state and local authority in siting power lines in power-needy areas. It’s this new Federal authority that the PEC, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and other critics see as a threat to historic areas, scenic vistas and even conservation easements, which are supposed to protect lands “in perpetuity.”
“This is a whole new animal,” commented Loock of the PEC. No such “national interest” corridors have been created yet under the new law, so there is no experience with them. The corridor proposed by Allegheny Power and Dominion may be one of the first. Normally, state regulatory agencies have jurisdiction over the siting of electric lines, but in the case of “national interest” corridors, the Federal regulators can take over the process if state regulators or local jurisdictions stand in the way or unreasonably delay approvals.
Already, PEC’s campaign has generated significant opposition to the proposed power line in Loudoun, Clarke, Prince William and other counties that the line might cross. The organization notes that the proposed corridor cuts across an area that includes six major Civil War Battlefields, many state and national historic sites, the Appalachian Trail, scenic vistas of the Blue Ridge, and 80,000 acres of land supposedly “protected” by conservation easements.
Paul Farmer, president of the Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection, noted that RLEP was founded about 35 years ago as a result of a similar power-line threat to the county.
“The late inclusion of Rappahannock County within the study area of the newly proposed transmission line is an ominous sign that a route here could be selected if opposition in counties to our north is judged to be too great to overcome,” Farmer said. “A new transmission line through Rappahannock County is unacceptable, and a ruling that the decision process can bypass the usual checks and balances of good regional planning on the basis of national security is unnecessary, unwarranted, and unwelcome.” RLEP will have this issue on its agenda in the months ahead, as early as its November meeting next Monday at the county library at 7:30 p.m., Farmer said.
The power-line study is on a relatively fast track. The construction project has a targeted completion date of 2011. The federal Energy Department, which is considering the utilities’ request for a “national interest” corridor, announced last week that before designating any such corridors, it will provide for a public comment period when it tentatively approves any “national interest” corridors–though it noted that such public comment period is not required by law.
The bottom-line problem for Rappahannock County may be its relative lack of political clout. To borrow a phrase from County Administrator McCarthy, Rappahannock may not be “really in the gunsights” of the power-line planners. A more logical, straight-line route for the power line would cut through Clarke, Fauquier and Loudoun counties–populous, vote-rich counties with strong poltical representation. But that’s where the opposition has been stirred, and where Congressman Wolf stands barring the way. Skirting Wolf’s district to the south would put Rappahannock County in the cross-hairs.
In a USA Today story on the power-line controversy last week, Dominion Virginia Power vice president John Smatlak indicated that the utility will seek to avoid stirring opposition to the project. “Dominion believes there are routes that sidestep most of the sensitive areas, Smatlak says,” according to the USA Today article. Rappahannock County should watch out for the “sidestep.”
For more information, see the PEC website: www.pecva.org/
-- James P. GannonComments
Comment from Bill Freitag
Time: November 15, 2006, 8:56 am
Ugly is a kind word. Go out on 647 past Grimsley Rd and see what they look like.
Comment from GregRushford
Time: November 15, 2006, 12:13 pm
Another important news story from RappVoice!
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