Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 7, 1991 TAG: 9104070067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The recommendations will be made at six public workshops to be held May 16-23 at sites to be announced at Catawba, New Castle and Pearisburg as well as in Union, Hinton and Pineville, W.Va.
The university researchers busily are collecting data on environmental and cultural concerns along a 110-mile route, said Ben Johnson, a Virginia Tech landscape architect and spokesman for the Tech-West Virginia University team.
A line from Apco's Wyoming station in West Virginia to Cloverdale would cross such major environmental features as the New River Gorge, Jefferson National Forest and the Appalachian Trail.
Apco plans the line to transmit electricity from the coalfields to sell to Virginia Power's growth centers in Eastern and Northern Virginia. The power company says it also will ensure sufficient electricity for the Roanoke Valley and its Western Virginia territory.
The study team will evaluate parallel routes of existing lines as well as new corridors, Johnson said.
After the team announces several 200-foot-wide corridors, it will make a recommendation, then Apco will make its route selection, he said.
After that selection, the utility will begin the process of seeking approval from the State Corporation Commission and the West Virginia Public Service Commission. The State Corporation Commission has said it will not act until Apco applies for the line.
As the information is being gathered, false reports about the planning process have been circulated, Johnson said Friday. "There are no corridors now, and Appalachian has no right of way," he added.
Concerned residents of the areas that might be crossed by the high-voltage line have been questioning the need for the project. Most, if not all, are opposing it.
The most active group on the Virginia side is the Citizens for the Preservation of Craig County, which has been assembling information about geographic, historical and scenic features for the study team. Johnson said the group has been "very professional." Citizens in search of information also have been meeting in Blacksburg and Pearisburg.
Aerial photographs of the region have been sent to the West Virginia team members for inclusion in a computer data base, Johnson said.
The team's study area includes Alleghany, Bland, Botetourt, Craig, Giles, Montgomery and Roanoke counties in Virginia, but its leaders say some of those counties may be missed by power-line corridors.
Johnson said the team has received more than 1,000 letters from people living in the study area. Some contain valuable information, and others are "impassioned," he said.
by CNB