Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 24, 1993 TAG: 9311240108
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., passed on a voice vote. The Senate now has one year to act on the measure, which would bring a portion of the river near the West Virginia-Virginia border into the national Wild and Scenic Rivers system.
If the bill becomes law, Rahall believes that scenic river status will prevent Apco from getting U.S. Park Service permission to route its proposed 765-kilovolt power line across that portion of the river, said Jim Zoia, a spokesman for the congressman.
But Apco disagrees with Rahall's assessment.
"In an of itself [the bill] doesn't preclude the line from crossing at that area," said company spokesman Don Johnson. Apco says its preferred route for the line would cause the least environmental impact.
Appalachian has proposed to build the 110-mile line from Wyoming, W.Va., to Cloverdale east of Roanoke.
The company has argued that the line is needed to supply the power demands of its Virginia customers. Opponents have countered that high-voltage lines pose a danger to human health and the environment, and that the real reason the company wants to build the line is to sell excess power from its parent American Electric Power Co. to East Coast utilities.
"Rahall has never been against the power line per se," Zoia said. Whether people in Virginia need the power the line would provide is not something the congressman would quibble with, he said.
Apco has an application to build the line pending before Virginia's State Corporation Commission. An SCC hearing officer is expected to make a recommendation to the commission early next year.
The hearing officer's recommendation could take into account the fact that the eventual border crossing of the line still is in doubt, said Ken Schrad, an SCC spokesman.
by CNB