Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 21, 1992 TAG: 9203210276
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Instead, opponents would have to go to court, which would be more difficult and more expensive.
The proposed change would affect appeals of actions such as the Jefferson National Forest's environmental impact statement on Appalachian Power Co.'s planned 765,000-volt power line.
Friday, the forest announced that a New Jersey consulting firm had been chosen to prepare the environmental statement, which is to be completed by January 1994.
The change in the appeals procedure, proposed by Secretary of Agriculture Edward Madigan, would restrict administrative appeals to forest plans and their amendments. Madigan oversees the Forest Service.
The change in procedure proposed by Madigan is a separate action. The proposal must first be published in the Federal Register and be subject to a 30-day public comment period before the Forest Service can adopt it.
Anti-power line organizations may not be able to prove in court that they will suffer direct damage from the proposed line, according to Jim Loesel of Roanoke, secretary of the Citizens Task Force on National Forest Management.
The proposal by Madigan "is truly arrogant . . . . He's changing the rules because he doesn't like the outcome," Loesel said. However, Loesel did not claim that the proposed procedure change was directed at the power line plan.
If the appeal procedure is scrapped, the only alternative will be to go to court, Loesel said.
If organizations cannot prove they suffer direct damage, court action would have to initiated by landowners, many of whom cannot afford a court challenge, he added.
William Bilenky, a Richmond lawyer representing power line opponent groups in Roanoke and Craig counties, said the plan to eliminate Forest Service appeals sounds like "unlawful delegation" of authority. But Bilenky had not seen the proposed change.
Under the existing procedure, Loesel said, if a citizen believes the Forest Service erred, its action could be appealed to the regional forester's office in Atlanta. "What they are saying now is that if you don't like it, you can go to court," Loesel said.
A Forest Service briefing paper said the proposed changes will remove barriers to economic growth and improve administrative efficiency by making sure new issues are considered before agency decisions are made.
F. Dale Robertson, chief of the Forest Service, said in an internal letter that he is still committed to public participation and to encouraging the public to join in planning national forest projects.
Apco's planned line from Wyoming County, W.Va. to Cloverdale will cross about 12 miles of the forest. The environmental statement is to consider alternatives and assess potential impacts of the line which is planned to cross the Appalachian Trail, New River and Army Corps of Engineers property in West Virginia.
Woodward Clyde Consultants of Wayne, N.J., was chosen from among 13 bidders to prepare the environmental statement. Apco is to pay for the work, and Jefferson National Forest will direct the project and provide data to develop a draft statement by mid-1993.
Woodward Clyde has worked on many complex projects and has a good reputation for performing comprehensive environmental analysis, according to Jefferson forest spokesman Frank Bergmann. More than 170 companies were invited to bid on the work.
The contractor has started work and will assist the forest with four town meetings in April to discuss the power line.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.