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Rapphannock County’s fight against Dominion power line looking more and more like an uphill battle, Supervisors told
Rappahannock County’s Board of Supervisors heard a report Monday from County Administrator John McCarthy and Commonwealth’s Attorney Peter Luke that provided little encouragement to those hoping to stop Dominion Virginia Power from stringing a second high-voltage transmission line across a portion of the county.
McCarthy and Luke did not suggest giving up the fight, but their report indicated the battle will be tougher and the odds of success possibly longer than expected when the issue was joined a few weeks ago.
McCarthy reported that he and Luke met recently with staff and officials of the Virginia State Corporation Commission, the regulatory agency which has authority over power-line issues. “We had a productive but not very heartening discussion,” McCarthy said at the afternoon session of the supervisors regular monthly meeting.
“We had every one of our assumptions on how Dominion fights these things and how they ramp up their staff and submission of materials confirmed,” the county administrator told the supervisors.
McCarthy said Luke had contacted several possible consultants that the county might have hired as experts on the case, but found that all of them either had been hired by Dominion already, or that some third-party contracting with Dominion had hired them. “All of which leads us to conclude that not only do they show up with some of the best talent, but they show up with basically all of the talent–everyone they can possibly get under retainer to defend their position.”
Del. Todd Gilbert and Sen. Mark Obenshain, who represent Rappahannock County in the Virginia General Assembly, met with Dominion officials last week and reported to McCarthy after that meeting, he said. “Dominion is not giving an inch in any of the discussions,” McCarthy said.
Commenting on the meeting with the SCC, Luke said one issue he explored was whether the hearing process that the agency will hold on Dominion’s proposal could be split into two parts: the first on determining if there is a need for the additional power, and the second on the issue of the routing of the transmission line. If the needs issue could be addressed first, and separately, then the routing of the line could be made moot by a finding that the need does not exist.
But Luke said the SCC officials ruled out a two-part hearing process. There will be one hearing, with both issues addressed, he said. “If you don’t win on the need issue, you go right into the siting issue,” he told the board.
The various counties involved, including Fauquier, Rappahannock and Culpeper, could take a common position on the need issue, Luke noted, but once the need is established their interests on where the line will be sited will diverge. Therefore, Rappahannock and the other counties probably can’t be represented by the same legal team before a unified hearing that addresses both issues.
That means Rappahannock County would have to hire its own team of lawyers and hire its own consultants and expert witnesses, which could be an extremely costly undertaking. The Board of Supervisors have appropriated up to $50,000 in county funds for the power-line legal fight, and none of that money has been spent yet, Luke noted. But both he and McCarthy said $50,000 would fall far short of financing a team of lawyers, consultants and expert witnesses.
“A fully engaged fight is half-a-million dollars,” commented McCarthy. He suggested Rappahannock County may have to “dip in and dip out” of the legal process, taking a “partial approach” that engages some issues but not others. “We ought to deal with some of the issues of routing,” McCarthy commented.
Luke said, “The SCC does not hold out a lot of hope on the need issue. It’s pretty much a question of the route” of the transmission line. The argument that the power carried by the new transmission line may not directly benefit Virginia customers “is not going to go far” with the SCC, he added. He suggested that Rappahannock should “let the PEC (Piedmont Environmental Council) and Fauquier County go in and fight the need issue,” while Rappahannock concentrates on the routing issue.
McCarthy told the supervisors they probably will have to make some decisions on legal strategy and their willingness to fund the power-line fight at their May 7 meeting. “We will try to bring you some choices,” to consider, he said.
-- James P. Gannon
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