Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 11, 1993 TAG: 9305110075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Apco immediately announced that a new application will be filed to comply with the requirements of the regulatory body in Charleston.
The commission said Apco's failure to provide an appropriate map is "a fatal flaw . . . requiring dismissal."
The map does not adequately display necessary information to locate the proposed power-line corridor in relation to natural, cultural and political features, the body said.
The ruling Monday afternoon caught Apco by surprise. Dick Burton, public affairs director for the utility, said the company is "very disappointed. . . . We will follow the commission's requirements and resubmit the application as soon as possible."
The Roanoke-based utility has three options, according to Howard Cunningham, executive secretary of the commission. The choices, he said, are to ask for reconsideration, to appeal to the West Virginia Supreme Court or to refile the petition within 10 days.
Apco wants to build a 765,000-volt line from Oceana, W.Va. to Cloverdale. The rejected application was Apco's second for the line.
The commission rejected the application at the request of Common Ground, a Monroe County, W.Va., opposition group. Bob Zacher, Common Ground coordinator, said it will be very difficult to correct the flaws in the application within the 10 days required by law.
Apco's major map has "a complex patchwork of delineated cultural assets in Virginia but when you get to West Virginia, there is a wasteland [according to the map]," Zacher said.
The commission said its rules provide that a utility seeking to locate a high-voltage transmission line must file a map showing in detail a 5-mile corridor on either side. The map should contain incorporated communities, recreational areas, parks, forests, hunting and fishing areas, historic sites and bodies of water, the agency said.
Apco's lack of geographic features on its map is "a substantial failure to comply with our rules," the commission said.
By a commission deadline of April 30, a record number of nearly 360 individual petitions to intervene in the power line case had been received by the West Virginia Commission.
"There's more interest in this case than any we've heard," said Billy Jack Gregg, state consumer advocate.
by CNB