Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 7, 1994 TAG: 9409070131
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS AND CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The actual route can be decided later, Apco says.
The state must approve both the need for the 765,000-volt line and its location. Those decisions have been delayed by a federal study of the line's impact on the Jefferson National Forest and the New River.
Apco filed a formal request Tuesday with the State Corporation Commission, saying a quick ruling on the need "should be in everyone's best interest."
A spokesman for power-line foes said they would challenge any attempt to separate a decision on the need for the line from a decision on its location.
Apco asked the SCC for permission to build the line more than three years ago. After several days of public hearings, an SCC hearing officer recommended last December that the three-judge commission approve the line.
The company proposed a route for the 765-kilovolt line from Oceana, W.Va., to Cloverdale in Botetourt County that crosses the New River and 12 miles of the Jefferson National Forest. For the past two years, the Forest Service has been studying the environmental impact and whether another route should be picked. The study is months from being finished.
Appalachian Vice President Charles Simmons said everyone involved should support Apco's request to speed up the approval process in Virginia. If opponents truly believe the line is not needed, they should welcome an early decision about its need, he said.
Apco said the Forest Service asked during hearings two years ago that the SCC rule early on the line's need, saying such a ruling was needed for its environmental study.
The Forest Service never heard back from the commission, but the agency's position remains the same, "although it's probably a little late for an early decision," said Frank Bergmann, a Forest Service official who is coordinating the environmental study.
Simmons said anything that would speed up the approval process would benefit Apco's customers, who depend on a reliable supply of electricity. The company, which hoped to complete the line by 1998, has said that unless it is built, Apco customers could begin experiencing losses of power.
SCC spokesman Ken Schrad said he wasn't sure if a request similar to Apco's has been granted in the past. In any case, he said, the commission will ask for responses from all interested parties before deciding.
Bob Zacher, director of Arcs Inc., a two-state coalition of groups opposed to the line, said if a route eventually were chosen that deviated significantly from Apco's proposed route, residents who would be affected by the new route would have a right to argue against the need for the line.
Further, Zacher said, the opponents in Virginia would likely challenge a move by the commission to separate the issue of need from location.
Several years ago, after another heated power-line fight, the commission ruled that the need for power lines and their proposed location must be considered together. The reason, Zacher said, was that most residents were not alerted to the project, an Apco 765-kv line from Jackson's Ferry to Axton that runs through Floyd County, until the need was already determined.
West Virginia law requires its Public Service Commission, which also must approve the project, to consider the need and the location simultaneously, Zacher said.
by CNB