
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 12, 1993                   TAG: 9305120116
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

APCO SAYS POWER LINE ONLY DELAYED

The rejection of Appalachian Power Co.'s application for a high-voltage power line in West Virginia probably will delay the anticipated 1998 completion date, "but we'll get there," said Charles Simmons, an Apco vice president.

This type of delay is "bothersome . . . and it overloads the process" of applying for a 765,000-volt line from Oceana, W.Va., to Cloverdale, Simmons said Tuesday.

Apco has said that a transmission line will be needed by mid-1998 to prevent blackouts east of Charleston, W.Va., and in Western Virginia.

Rejection of the application filed Feb. 15 has added three months to the process time.

Apco may ask for reconsideration and clarification of Monday's order from the West Virginia Public Service Commission, Simmons said.

Such a request must be made within 10 days. Apco said Monday that it will refile its application, a procedure that has no deadline, said Howard Cunningham, executive secretary of the commission.

(A report Tuesday incorrectly said Apco had 10 days to prepare a map of the power line route, as requested by the commission.)

Although the commission said more information is needed about natural, cultural and political features, Simmons said the Apco filing "was by far the most comprehensive those guys had ever seen." The West Virginia regulations "are vague enough," he said.

Simmons, Apco's leader for the power-line project, acknowledges that it will take time to prepare the mapping information requested by the commission.

Apco will meet with the study team from Virginia Tech and West Virginia University to determine how to assemble the needed information.

That team prepared the earlier maps and it will do the new ones.

The West Virginia commission wants Apco's maps to show alternate routes, as well as recreational areas, according to Simmons.

The commission also wants Apco to combine computerized information on the environment with other data on one map. "This will give us logistics problems," he said.

In Richmond, Bill Bilenky, a lawyer for Roanoke County and Craig County opponents of the line, said the State Corporation Commission is trying to schedule a mid-September hearing to wind up the power line case in this state.

The last hearing is scheduled to hear evidence of the impact of the line on geological features and health concerns in electromagnetic fields.

Looking at the effect of the West Virginia rejection of Apco's application, Bilenky said, "It's scary, but if West Virginia changes the route [for the line], we'll have to start over" in Virginia.

Bilenky said it would make sense for the SCC to delay the next hearing until the West Virginia route is known.

He believes the West Virginia regulators favor a southwestern route, which could bring the line through Tazewell, Bland or Giles counties.

by CNB